BERLIN: There was no repeat of the miracle comeback of 2017 on Wednesday as Barcelona exited the Champions League in the last 16 after a 1-1 draw at Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG led 4-1 from the first leg in Spain and though Lionel Messi’s superb strike equalised Kylian Mbappe’s penalty opener before the break, the Argentine’s missed spot-kick meant there was no way back for Barca.
Fours years ago PSG saw a 4-0 home lead overturned 6-1 by Barcelona at the Camp Nou but on this occasion last season’s beaten finalists progressed into the quarterfinals despite a poor performance.
They are joined by 2019 winners Liverpool who secured a second 2-0 win over RB Leipzig in Budapest with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane again scoring. This time Liverpool were the hosts in Hungary due to coronavirus restrictions.
Borussia Dortmund and Porto made it to the last eight on Tuesday while holders Bayern Munich are among those who will hope to progress next week when they host Lazio having won 4-1 in Rome.
Barcelona arrived in Paris needing a miracle to avoid their earliest exit in the competition in 15 years and instantly dominated the ball. But Ousmane Dembele missed a number of chances and Sergino Dest had a shot turned onto the bar by Keylor Navas before Clement Lenglet’s accidental foul on Mauro Icardi allowed Mbappe — who hit a first leg hat-trick — to open the scoring on the half hour.
Mbappe thus claimed Messi’s record as the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the competition at aged 22 years and 80 days.
Brazilian star Neymar failed to recover from a groin injury to play for PSG and his continental rival Messi stole the show with a sensational long-range drive into the top corner to equalise in the 37th minute. But Messi spurned the chance to heap the pressure on PSG when his penalty was turned onto the bar by Navas after Antoine Griezmann was fouled by Layvin Kurzawa in first half injury-time. “If we’d led at the break, the second half would have been a whole different affair,” said Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman.
PSG were forced back throughout the second half but Barcelona could not secure even a win on the night and fell 5-2 on aggregate. “We’ve left a good impression here after a terrific performance,” said Griezmann.
“We had lots of goal chances, particularly in the first half, but we just didn’t score them.”
Navas, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, said PSG now had to “continue in this state of mind. To win this competition you have to be united. “The group has clear goals in mind. We hope to see it through to the end.”
Liverpool showed fewer nerves and were perhaps grateful to play in the Puskas Arena after six consecutive domestic losses at Anfield left them eighth in the Premier League.
Diogo Jota was twice denied by Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi among a string of early Liverpool chances before the Portuguese and Mane combined to set up Salah 20 minutes from time.
Mane turned in Divock Origi’s cross four minutes later to seal a 4-0 aggregate victory. — dpa
UEFA Champions League results
(aet denotes after extra time): Last 16, second legs
At Budapest
Liverpool (ENG) 2 (Salah 71, Mane 74) RB Leipzig (GER) 0
Liverpool win 4-0 on aggregate
At Paris
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 1 (Mbappe 31-pen) Barcelona (ESP) 1 (Messi 37)
Paris Saint-Germain win 5-2 on aggregate
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