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| Kylian Mbappe centre-forward of PSG and France celebrates victory after the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg match between FC Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on April 16, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. |
A Kylian Mbappe brace at the Montjuic Stadium helped Paris Saint-Germain knock FC Barcelona out of the Champions League quarterfinals by an aggregate score of 5-3 determined by a 4-1 win on Wednesday night.
The Catalans went into the second leg with a 3-2 advantage, and though their head coach Xavi Hernandez said that Luis Enrique’s men were the favourites to progress to the last four, they appeared confident of reaching that stage of the competition for the first time since 2019.
Barca had one foot in the semifinal when the MVP of the first leg Raphinha put them 1-0 up with a lead of 4-2 overall on 13 minutes.
Lamine Yamal was excellent providing an assist for the Brazilian with a solo right wing dribble, but he ultimately had to be substituted when Ronald Araujo was sent off.
The Uruguayan and leader of the defense lost his head when committing a foul as the last man, and though the impact of the development wasn’t instant, it proved to be a key turning point.
Barca hung on for as long as they could without conceding while down to 10 men, but succumbed to their ex-forward Ousmane Demele – booed throughout by the home crowd – on the 40 minute mark.
Then in the second half, things went from bad to worse as Vitinha converted with bags of space from the edge of the box for PSG to take a 2-1 lead on the night and level the aggregate score.
Dembele was again a protagonist when hacked down in the 18-yard box, which allowed Kylian Mbappe to convert the resulting spot kick on 61 minutes.
Barca tried to find another goal themselves, and going for broke at the other hand when outnumbered resulted in Mbappe scoring with a minute to spare to break Culer hearts as he did with a Camp Nou last 16 hat trick in 2021.
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In beating the La Liga giants, PSG will now face off against Borussia Dormund for a place in the final played at Wembley on June 1 this season.
As for Barca, attention now turns to trying to restore pride against bitter rivals Real Madrid – which appears to be Mbappe’s next destination – in El Clasico on Sunday.
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