Paris Saint-Germain stunned Barcelona in Spain as Kylian Mbappe scores twice in a 4-1 win to lead the French champions to a 6-4 aggregate win.
The game saw Luis Enrique returning to Barcelona to knock his former club out of the Champions League as Kylian Mbappe inspired Paris Saint-Germain to a pulsating 4-1 second-leg victory, winning 6-4 on aggregate.
They fought back from 3-2 down in the first leg and 1-0 down on Tuesday night to progress to the final four, where they will face Borussia Dortmund for a place in Wembley’s final.
Barcelona extended their lead on the night when Raphinha converted Lamine Yamal’s cross (12).
But the game turned on referee Istvan Kovacs’ decision to send off Ronald Araujo for a professional foul (29) on Bradley Barcola.
PSG were ruthless in making their numerical advantage count as they hauled themselves back into the tie through Ousmane Dembele before half-time (40).
Enrique’s side didn’t take their foot off the gas upon the restart as Vintinha levelled the contest with a fine strike (54) before a rash challenge from Joao Cancelo in the box allowed Mbappe to put the French club ahead on aggregate (61).
With Barcelona committing players forward in the closing stages, Mbappe stretched PSG’s lead after pouncing on a poor clearance from Jules Kounde after Marc-Andre ter Stegen had saved his initial effort to cap a breathless night at the Estadio Olimpico de Montjuic.
Xavi complained bitterly to referee Kovacs and ended up being shown a red card himself, which did not stop him going back to the pitch at the final whistle to voice his frustration again at the Romanian official.
“The referee was really bad. I told him his performance was a disaster. I don’t like to talk about referees, but it had a clear impact in the season and it has to be said,” Xavi told Movistar Plus.
“We are very upset and angry because the red card was the decisive factor in the match. With 11 (players), we were in a good position, playing well and in command.
“It’s too much to flash a red card in a game like this. There was another game after that… It is a pity that the work of the season was ruined by an unnecessary expulsion.”
PSG will now play Dortmund in the semi-finals, having already met them in the group phase of this season’s competition. The German team also performed a turnaround in their tie with Atletico Madrid, responding to last week’s 2-1 defeat in Spain with a 4-2 win in their second leg, resulting in a 5-4 aggregate triumph.
Barcelona got off to the perfect start when Raphinha got in front of Achraf Hakimi to meet Yamal’s inviting cross.
In providing the assist aged 16 years and 278 days, Yamal became the youngest player to register a goal involvement in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
But when Araujo brought down Barcola outside the box as he ran onto Nuno Mendes’ pass, the hosts were reduced to 10 men and had over an hour to limit PSG to a single goal.
That came when Dembele arrived at the far post to meet Barcola’s low cross in front of Joao Cancelo, temporarily silencing the crowd that jeered the former Barcelona player throughout.
Vitinha drilled the French champions into the lead on the night and Barcelona’s frustration extended to their manager Xavi, who was sent off for kicking some water bottles.
The Spanish club’s misery was complete when Mbappe was on target from the penalty spot after Cancelo had brought down Dembele inside the box.
As Barca tried to find a goal to take the game to extra-time, Mbappe made the most of a counter attack to score from close-range and wrap up a semi-final place against Borussia Dortmund.
SKYSPORTS
