Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund were the winners of the first two Champions League quarter-finals defeating Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The two sides now meet in the first of the two semi-finals at the end of the month.
Mbappe scores twice as PSG beat 10-man Barca
Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe scored twice in the second half to help his side to a 4-1 comeback win at 10-man Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final, second leg to wrap up a 6-4 aggregate victory on Tuesday.
After winning 3-2 in Paris and taking a 1-0 lead with an early Raphinha goal in the return, Barca collapsed after going down to 10 men just before the half-hour when last man Ronald Araujo was red-carded for fouling Bradley Barcola.
Former Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele equalised for the visitors just before the break while Vitinha and Mbappe finished the job in the second half, with PSG facing Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals after the Germans beat Atletico Madrid.
Borussia Dortmund stormed into the Champions League semi-finals with a rip-roaring 4-2 home win over Atletico Madrid on Tuesday that saw them fight back from a 2-1 defeat in the first leg to win the tie 5-4 on aggregate.
The German side scored twice in the first half and looked to be cruising into the last four, but Atletico bounced back with two goals early in the second half to put Dortmund on the ropes before they dug deep to complete a superb comeback.
The German side will now take on Paris St Germain, who came back from 4-2 down to beat Barcelona 6-4 on aggregate, in the semi-finals, with a place in the final on June 1 at London’s Wembley Stadium at stake.
“We played an incredibly good first half, then there was the extremely unfortunate goal conceded, (but) how we came back, wow,” delighted Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said in a TV interview.
The game got off to a flying start, and midfielder Marcel Sabitzer was only prevented from putting the home side ahead in the third minute by a last-ditch block from Cesar Azpilicueta as the home side came flying out of the blocks.
Julian Brandt put Dortmund level on aggregate in the 34th minute, latching on to a brilliant pass from Mats Hummels and firing home, and five minutes later Dortmund took the lead in the quarter-final tie as Ian Maatsen cut in from the left and drilled a perfectly-placed shot in at the foot of the far post.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone made a triple substitution at the break and it paid dividends almost immediately as Dortmund defender Hummels turned the ball into his own net in the 49th minute, and substitute Angel Correa put the Spaniards back in the lead in the tie in the 64th, scoring at the second attempt.
However, the home side struck back and striker Niclas Fuellkrug made it 4-4 on aggregate with a brilliant glancing header from Sabitzer’s cross in the 74th minute.
The home fans had barely retaken their seats following that goal when Sabitzer popped up on the edge of the box, steadying himself with an excellent first touch before drilling home the winner in front of an ecstatic crowd three minutes later.
“It was a great game for everyone who came to the stadium. We played a great first half, it took us five or 10 minutes (to get going) in the second half, we have to accept that, but the answer to that (the Atletico goals) was sensational,” goal-scorer Brandt said.
Having failed to get past the round of 16 in the last two seasons and being pinned against the ropes by a Barca side who were in the ascendancy, PSG put on a gritty performance to make the most of the home side’s mistakes and turn the tie around.
“I feel very proud, the players showed a lot of character and desire,” PSG manager Luis Enrique told Canal+. “We showed what we wanted to do here. We conceded a goal but we remained intact in mentality. We did everything to be better than Barca.”
PSG manager Luis Enrique, who won the treble in charge of Barcelona in 2015, made three changes from the defeat in Paris.
Bringing in Barcola up front was crucial as the France winger was a constant menace to Barca’s defence, running up and down the left channel as PSG dominated from the start.
But Barcelona seemed comfortable to sit back and counter attack, with Raphinha giving them the lead in the 12th minute.
Teenager Lamine Yamal took a long pass in his stride before slicing past Nuno Mendes in the right channel and putting the ball on a plate for the Brazilian to score the opener.
Barca then wasted a chance to extend their lead when Robert Lewandowski missed from close range and were down to 10 men just before the half-hour after last man Ronald Araujo was shown a red card for a foul on Barcola just outside the penalty area.
The Uruguay defender and his Barca team mates argued with the referee, saying it was a shoulder charge and Pau Cubarsi was close by and ready to challenge Barcola, but it was in vain and Araujo eventually made his way off the field.
Former Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele put the resulting free kick just wide but did not miss the target nine minutes later, firing home for the visitors in the 40th to equalise on the night from another great play by Barcola.
PSG PRESSURE
PSG were back on top in the second half and piled on the pressure until Vitinha finally managed to put the visitors in front on the night after 54 minutes.
Dembele played a short corner to Achraf Hakimi, who rolled a pass to Vitinha just outside the area and the Portuguese midfielder had all the time in the world to slot a shot just inside Marc Andre ter Stegen’s right-hand post.
PSG kept up the pressure and in the 61st minute Barca full back Joao Cancelo made a reckless sliding tackle to take down Dembele and concede a penalty that Mbappe fired into the top corner to make it 3-1 as PSG moved ahead in the tie.
As Barca tried to find a goal to take the game to extra time, France striker Mbappe made the most of a counter attack to score from close-range and wrap up a semi-final place.
“Everyone believed in it. We didn’t give up,” Dembele told Canal+ “We knew we were going to score goals. It was great work from the whole team. The coach’s tactics were perfect. We made a great effort after conceding the first goal.
“Qualifying for the semi-final is a big thing. We’re crossing our fingers to make it to the final. We’ll have to recover well.”
Dortmund down Atletico Madrid in thriller
Borussia Dortmund stormed into the Champions League semi-finals with a rip-roaring 4-2 home win over Atletico Madrid on Tuesday that saw them fight back from a 2-1 defeat in the first leg to win the tie 5-4 on aggregate.
The German side scored twice in the first half and looked to be cruising into the last four, but Atletico bounced back with two goals early in the second half to put Dortmund on the ropes before they dug deep to complete a superb comeback.
The German side will now take on Paris St Germain, who came back from 4-2 down to beat Barcelona 6-4 on aggregate, in the semi-finals, with a place in the final on June 1 at London’s Wembley Stadium at stake.
“We played an incredibly good first half, then there was the extremely unfortunate goal conceded, (but) how we came back, wow,” delighted Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said in a TV interview.
The game got off to a flying start, and midfielder Marcel Sabitzer was only prevented from putting the home side ahead in the third minute by a last-ditch block from Cesar Azpilicueta as the home side came flying out of the blocks.
Julian Brandt put Dortmund level on aggregate in the 34th minute, latching on to a brilliant pass from Mats Hummels and firing home, and five minutes later Dortmund took the lead in the quarter-final tie as Ian Maatsen cut in from the left and drilled a perfectly-placed shot in at the foot of the far post.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone made a triple substitution at the break and it paid dividends almost immediately as Dortmund defender Hummels turned the ball into his own net in the 49th minute, and substitute Angel Correa put the Spaniards back in the lead in the tie in the 64th, scoring at the second attempt.
However, the home side struck back and striker Niclas Fuellkrug made it 4-4 on aggregate with a brilliant glancing header from Sabitzer’s cross in the 74th minute.
The home fans had barely retaken their seats following that goal when Sabitzer popped up on the edge of the box, steadying himself with an excellent first touch before drilling home the winner in front of an ecstatic crowd three minutes later.
“It was a great game for everyone who came to the stadium. We played a great first half, it took us five or 10 minutes (to get going) in the second half, we have to accept that, but the answer to that (the Atletico goals) was sensational,” goal-scorer Brandt said.
