French “Paris Saint-Germain” after home defeat defeated the visiting Spanish Barcelona with a score of 4:1 in the return match of the 1/4 finals of the UEFA Champions League and reached the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament. Sports — about the most important evening for the Parisians and the dramatic parallel confrontation in Germany, where Borussia Dortmund knocked out Atlético Madrid.
Paris rehabilitated itself, Barça disappointed. The first match turned out to be amazing! Barcelona took the lead, conceded twice, and then made a comeback (fiery greetings to goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma) and left Paris with a tough victory with a score of 3:2. Birthday boy Andreas Christensen scored the winning goal — the first meeting of coach Xavi's duel against his ex-cox Luis Enrique remained with the legendary midfielder with four Champions League trophies.
A week has passed during which PSG rested ( the future champions of France did not have a match over the weekend), but the fight in Paris seemed to continue. First, Rafinha opened the scoring after Lamin Yamal's pass in the 12th minute, and eight minutes later Robert Lewandowski almost doubled the Blaugrana's lead.
Catalan defender Ronald Araujo came to the aid of the sinking PSG: at the end of half an hour of the game, he could not find anything better than to hit Bradley Barcol in the face and see a straight red card in front of him for the “foul of last resort.” And in the 42nd minute the guests returned to the game. It was Barcola who crossed into the goalkeeper's area, where Ousmane Dembele left no chance for Marc-Andre ter Stegen! The Frenchman, who came under the obstruction of Spanish fans, again upset his former club.
In the minority, Barça collapsed. And very quickly: in the 52nd minute, Vitinha hit the far corner from a distance, in the 57th, Xavi freaked out and was removed from the bench, and in the 61st, Mbappe finally scored. True, from the penalty spot, which Romanian referee Istvan Kovac awarded for demolishing Dembele.
Barcelona, which had not reached the semi-finals since 2019, did nothing to send the match into extra time. Absolutely nothing! I remember only a good moment from Lewandowski… And the saves of Ter Stegen, who in the 88th minute was powerless for the fourth time: after a failure of defense and a series of saves by the German, Mbappe scored a double.
Four years later, Paris reached the semi-finals of the Champions League .
UEFA Champions League16 April 2024 • starts at 22:00Finished
BarcelonaSpain1 : 4
PSGFrance
13' • Rafinha (Lamin Yamal)
40' • Ousmane Dembele (Bradley Barkola)
54' • Vitinha (Achraf Hakimi)< br>61' • Kylian Mbappe (P)89' • Kylian Mbappe
View all goals
Barça has the most important El Clasico ahead: Real is eight points ahead of the Catalans with seven rounds left in the Spanish Championship — only if they win, Xavi’s players can count on continuing the “golden race”. Well, having played a stunning match, PSG is preparing to celebrate another success in Ligue 1.
And is preparing to meet the angry “bumblebees”.
It's so hot in Dortmund! Atlético led confidently in the first meeting, but Sebastien Halle's goal (2:1) kept Borussia afloat and kept the intrigue alive in the weakest quarterfinal pair. By the way, the “mattress guys” did not lose the 18th home match of the Champions League playoffs in a row — a great series has been going on since 1997.
But when visiting Madrid, everything collapsed, just as the fans’ expectations of seeing the Spanish semi-final collapsed. Borussia scored twice in five minutes (Julian Brandt scored in the 34th minute, and Jan Matsen in the 39th), but after the break the visitors almost cut off the “bumblebees” wings: after an own goal from Mats Hummels, Angel Correa made it 2: 2.
But Borussia is no stranger to making comebacks. In three minutes, Niklas Füllkrug and Marcel Sabitzer buried Atlético and reminded the black and yellow arena of the 2012/13 season, when Dortmund, under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp, reached the London final.
When will the remaining semi-finalists be determined? Already today in 22:00 Moscow time there will be two super matches:
- The current winner of the Champions LeagueManchester Cityhas a peaceful match withRealin Madrid — a crazy match, crazy 3:3 in the end. The confrontation, which is called the “hidden final”, will continue in England;
- Arsenalat home could not defeat Bayern (2:2) and will now try to deal with the season-failing giants in Munich.
The first legs of the semi-finals will be held on April 30 and May 1, the return matches on May 7 and 8. The decisive battle of the main club tournament of the Old World will take place on June 1 at London's Wembley Stadium.
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