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PARIS – Paris St. Germain buried the ghosts of their embarrassing 2017 outing when they drew 1-1 at home with Barcelona on Wednesday to complete a 5-2 aggregate victory that sent them to the Champions League quarter-finals .
Four years after Barça clinched a memorable 6-1 win to come back from 4-0 in the round of 16 first leg, PSG lacked inspiration, but their 4-1 lead in the opener in Spain was enough. this time.
Kylian Mbappé, who scored a hat-trick at Camp Nou, opened the scoring with a penalty against the run before Lionel Messi drew with a superb long-distance goal, but the Argentine had a penalty shot stopped by Keylor Navas at the half time line.
The French champions were on the defensive in the second half as Barça pressed, but Barça exited the competition before the semi-finals for the second year in a row.
Barça’s departure ensured that it will be the first time since 2005 that neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the Champions League quarter-finals after Juventus were also eliminated in the round of 16 on Tuesday.
“We suffered a lot in the first half and psychologically it was a test for us. I deduced that the past was something that was talked about a lot here, ”said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino.
“We were better in the second half, we were more competitive.”
Barça coach Ronald Koeman tried to stay optimistic.
“We started this Champions League in a very different way than we did last season. In this game, we reached our level and that is the path we have to follow, ”said Koeman, referring to the team’s 8-2 aggregate loss in the quarter-finals to Bayern Munich last year.
PSG, without the injured Neymar, looked nothing like the team that reached the final last year or thrashed Barcelona three weeks ago, but kept their composure behind.
Barcelona printed their authority early on, finding space for Ousmane Dembélé, but the Frenchman was denied twice by Navas and skied an effort over the bar in the first 20 minutes.
Sergino Dest approached Barça with a powerful shot at an angle that Navas deflected to his left post and Dembélé broke down the left wing, but his center barely avoided a slip by Messi.
However, it was PSG who took the lead in the 31st minute when Mbappé converted a penalty awarded following a VAR review after Clement Lenglet appeared to step on Mauro Icardi’s heel.
Six minutes later, Messi unleashed a 25-meter missile that flew into the upper corner to match his 120 in style.th goal in the Champions League.
The Argentine had a chance to put the visitors ahead just before half-time when Barça won a penalty after Layvin Kurzawa’s foul on Antoine Griezmann, but Navas deflected the Argentine’s penalty to the crossbar and left.
Barça continued to dominate PSG in the second half and it took a desperate tackle from Marquinhos to prevent Messi from scoring point-blank before Navas cleared a header from Sergio Busquets.
However, Barcelona gradually lost steam and must now return to their bid to win the La Liga title, where they are six points behind leaders Atlético de Madrid. – Reuters
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