Xavi showed a golden touch on Wednesday evening: after Paris Saint-Germain quickly overturned Barcelona's lead after half-time, two players from the outgoing coach ensured victory for the Catalans away from home in the first leg of their quarter-final.
Winning goal on his 28th birthday: Andreas Christensen made it 3-2.
imago/panoramic c
Luis Enrique gave Paris Saint-Germain a makeover following a 1-1 draw with Clermont Foot, after the designated champions rested most of their key players at the bottom. The hosts had no problems at the start of the match, which FC Barcelona felt immediately.
From the start, PSG pushed the visitors into their own half with long passes to the quick forwards, but there were no clear scoring opportunities for Dembélé, Mbappe and co.
Champions League, quarter-finals
Barcelona's quick substitutions, which Xavi switched two positions after the 1-0 win over Las Palmas (Araujo and De Jong for Inigo Martinez and Firmin), were far more important. It got serious again and again as PSG goalkeeper Donnarumma in particular had a bitter day.
Donnarumma wobbles several times – Rafinha scores
After the Italian initially failed in his attempt to correct a coordination error by his forward players and had to be saved by Lucas Hernandez against Rafinha (6th), Nuno Mendes (21st) – or the Barcelona professionals themselves (34th) – matters were later settled by the goalkeeper. .
After a perfect counter-attack, the spell was broken for the visitors. Donnarumma managed to clear Lewandowski's cross from Lamine Yamal, but directly at the feet of Rafinha, who deserved to score to make it 1-0 (37). Scorer Wlamin Yamal then made it 2-0 (43rd), but PSG showed no signs of revolt before half-time.
First Dembele, then Vitinha: Paris Saint-Germain turns the game around within two minutes
But the hosts came out of it inspired, and got rewarded immediately. Vitinha's shot went over the crossbar, and Dembele strengthened it for a few moments, leaving no opportunity after dribbling past De Jong ter Stegen (48th minute). It only took two sessions before the hosts turned the match completely in their favor: they brought on Fabian Vitinha, who scored the lead goal (50th).
When Barkola's effort was blocked by Ter Stegen shortly after (55 minutes) and Barcelona were unable to get back on track, Xavi was forced to act and made two substitutions. Pedri was on the field next to Joao Felix when the latter got the ball after Donnarumma's failed shot, and after a quick look, the ball quietly reached Rafinha, who scored the double (62).
Joker Christensen has the last word
An open exchange of blows ensued with Araujo denying Paris Barcola (71') and Dembélé hitting the post (75') – and Xavi once again showed the right instinct. In the 76th minute, Christensen was substituted on his 28th birthday – and the Joker scored immediately. The Dane headed in a corner kick from Gundogan to lead 3-2 (77).
It was the last word in this exciting confrontation between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, which brought with it a loss for the winner of the match: Christensen saw yellow in the final phase, which meant that he and captain Sergi Roberto were suspended for Barcelona in the match. Second stop.
PSG have no matches next weekend and can therefore be well prepared for revenge in the return leg on Tuesday (9pm), and Barcelona will visit Cádiz again (Saturday, 9pm).
“General writer. Twitter fanatic. Award-winning alcohol practitioner. Pop culture guru.”
More Stories
An imminent career end for Alaba? “Complete nonsense”
Elena Fuchs at age 15 at the European Table Tennis Championships
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””” ?”