Paris Saint-Germain are through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League thanks to a 5-2 aggregate victory over Barcelona as the Spanish giants came up short in their bid for another historic comeback.
Trailing 4-1 from the first-leg, Barca needed a repeat of their remarkable turnaround against the same opposition four years ago, when they came from 4-0 down to win 6-5 on aggregate, but despite dominating the game never came close to repeating the feat as the sides shared a 1-1 draw at Parc Des Princes.
Kylian Mbappe had scored a hat-trick in the first leg and extended PSG’s advantage from the penalty spot after a controversial VAR decision had seen Clement Lenglet penalised for an accidental, off the ball trip on Mauro Icardi.
However, Lionel Messi gave the visitors hope with a stunning strike from long range and Barca created a hatful of chances, with Ousmane Dembele particularly wasteful.
Messi had chance to further reduce the deficit on the stroke of half-time after Antoine Griezmann had won a penalty but the Argentine’s effort was deflected onto the bar by Keylor Navas, though replays showed a retake should have been ordered as Marco Verratti cleared after encroaching.
The miss seemed to take some of the belief out of Catalan hopes, with PSG slightly more comfortable after the break, though they still had superb goalkeeping from Navas and some excellent defending from Marquinhos to thank for ensuring there was not a more nervy finale.
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