Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund were the first two clubs to book a place in this season’s Champions League semi-finals, each winning their last eight ties on Tuesday night.
PSG saw off Barcelona in emphatic fashion, winning 4-1 in Catalonia to seal a 6-4 aggregate victory, while Dortmund also knocked out Spanish opposition in Atletico Madrid.
The pair will now face each other for a place in the final.
Back in 2017, PSG led 4-0 from the first leg of their last 16 tie against Barcelona. Despite conceding three in the return game, an away goal – when those existed – looked set to secure their progression, given that Barca then needed three more goals in the final two minutes plus stoppage time.
What happened next is the stuff of Barcelona lore, Sergi Roberto sealing the mother of all comebacks in the 95th minute to blow the roof off Camp Nou.
Seven years on, PSG, led by the very coach who masterminded the original Remontada for Barcelona, got their revenge. Luis Enrique witnessed his team, already trailing 3-2 on aggregate, concede first in the second leg, before scoring four without reply to silence the Catalan crowd.
Kylian Mbappe will leave PSG at the end of this season for, the world assumes, Real Madrid. But you get the impression that he has been desperately willing his hometown club to succeed before he does, having had so many near misses and false dawns at this level, on the ultimate stage.
As his story in the French capital edges towards its conclusion, there is still chance that it could have the storybook ending that he has probably been dreaming of all these years.
Having delivered an overdue La Liga title last season, Xavi’s last chance of securing Barcelona’s first Champions League trophy in nine years is gone and his final months in the job before walking away in summer won’t deliver any silverware.
Real Madrid are eight points clear in La Liga and not realistically catchable with so few games left, while Barca’s Copa del Rey campaign ended back in January at the quarter-final stage, ten days after also being thrashed by Madrid in the Supercopa de Espana final.
The Champions League was all they had left, but Xavi didn’t even see it out, sent from the technical area for kicking out in frustration at nearby…
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