PSG Takes Barcelona to the Cleaner’s

 Barcelona’s hope of an eventful fairy tale has ended on a rather tragic note. In a match looking somewhat promising for the Catalan giants on the night, the god of soccer appeared to not answer prayers uttered in Spanish but French.

The match, which was the second leg of the quarter-final stage, saw the home side take the lead in the twelfth minute through Raphinha’s goal, signaling a possible routing of the home team.
Seventeen minutes after that the home side would see red with the dismissal of Ronald Araujo, who fouled Bradley Bracola around the box area, which the referee awarded a straight red card. With ten men left to lock horns with eleven, it becomes very glaring that there the deficiency will count against the home side.

PSG quickly took advantage of the deficit and began to mount pressure on the back four of their opponents; Xavi would pull out Yamal and introduce Inigo Martinez to beef up the defence. However, that meant rendering his attack less biting.
Five minutes before the end of the first half, PSG, through Barca’s runaway striker, Ousmane Dembele, leveled up the scoreline. PSG instantly looked formidable after the equalizer.

The second half did not favour Barcelona, as the visitors knew they had the advantage of numerical strength to turn the tie around. Achraf Hakimi forced a good save from Ter Stegen, while Fabian Ruiz missed an easy chance after a pass from Kylian in the first five minutes.
Vitinha would score for PSG and put the visiting side ahead by one goal. This ‘gesture’ ignited a response from Gundogan who hit the post in a bid to make it 2-2. Mbappe scored from the spot at the hour-mark after Dembele was fouled.

Barca Coach, Xavi Hernandez, was sent off for dissent shortly before goal number three.
French wonder boy Kylian Mbappe doubled his tally at the death to send his side to the semis. Scoreline: Barcelona- 1 PSG- 4. Aggregate: (4-6). And so it is true that, fairy tales do end; sometimes it’s not happily ever after. The drama continues.