Three red cards, spectacular goals and a comeback from Paris Saint-Germain that was hardly thought possible: superstar Kylian Mbappé led the French champions to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in three years and is now challenging BVB again.
PSG won – also thanks to a good 60 minutes of superiority – at FC Barcelona 4:1 (1:1) and thus made up for the 2:3 from the first leg. This means that the dream of the title is over for the two German national players Marc-André ter Stegen and Ilkay Gündogan in the Barça jersey.
PSG will now face Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund again in the semi-finals, both teams having already played against each other in the group stage. The French are looking forward to their first final since 2020, when they lost 1-0 against FC Bayern under Thomas Tuchel.
Araujo sees red after emergency brake
After Raphinha conceded an early goal, ex-Dortmunder Ousmane Dembélé (40th), Vitinha (54th) and Mbappé twice (61st/penalty and 89th) turned the game around. However, the comeback was helped by an early red card against Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo after an emergency stop (29′). But that wasn’t enough: Coach Xavi and an assistant from the Catalans also had to vacate their places in the second half because they were annoyed with the Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs.
Initially everything went according to plan for the hosts. After fine preparatory work by Lamine Yamal, who was only 16 years old, Raphina was there. After the red card against Araujo, PSG took command and created a series of chances. After Barcola’s assist, Dembélé gave keeper ter Stegen no chance, and after the break Vitinha scored with a remarkable long-range shot. The preliminary decision resulted from an unnecessary foul by ex-Bayern player João Cancelo against Dembélé. Mbappé didn’t miss the chance and made everything clear shortly before the end. This means that the striker can still hope for an international title at the end of his seven-year era in the PSG jersey. The 2018 World Cup winner is expected to move to Barça rivals Real Madrid in the summer.
