PSG 1-1 Barcelona (agg: 5-2): Champions League – as it happened | American football

Paris Saint-Germain is in the last 16. One more return never happened, but Barcelona have at least restored some level of pride, though they will curse their quirky finish. Messi scored one spectacular goal from distance, but messed up a penalty, while others, especially Dembele, messed up other chances. PSG’s goal came from a regrettable penalty decision in their favor and they defended well in the second half; their brilliance could be seen in the first leg. Barça has not been eliminated in this phase of the tournament since 2007.

90 min: Mbappé scorches the field on the counter-attack, cheats Lenglet with a switch and then comes face to face with the keeper. He’s going for the blaster in the top corner … but he’s doing it all wrong, sweeping the ball high and wide.

87 min: Danilo curtails a Barcelona attack with an expert tackle on the edge of his home area, then launches a counterattack. Di Maria has teammates left and right, with Barcelona overexposed … but he messes up the through ball.

85 min: Griezmann hits the ball high over the bar from the edge of the penalty area after a smooth move by Barcelona. PSG is almost there …

81 min: PSG is finally trying to kill the game during the counterattack. Mbappé moves it on to Icardi, whose finish from 16 meters is worse than anything even Demeble has collected today.

75 min: Alba curls the ball over the face of the goal. Diallo does just enough to prevent Dembele from poking it in the net. The striker could have made a hat-trick today if he was just a little sharper.

74 min: Freekick to Barcelona near the left corner of the PSG box after Florenzi led Messi to the grass. MEssi cuts in the six meter area where Icardi leads it away.

72 min: Trincao plays Diallo and then throws a high ball over the goal. Alba makes it way past the far pole and sends it back into danger zone, but PSG clearly scrambles it.

70 min: Another twenty minutes and Barcelona needs three goals to force extra time. It seems ridiculous … but the way they play, if they get one soon. you feel that something can happen …

69 min: More refined defense by Marquinhos and Danilo sabotages another dangerous attack from Barcelona. From the resulting angle, Navas cleverly reacts to knock away a near-post header from Busquets!

67 minMessi becomes the first player to get past the impressive Diallo since the submarine’s arrival, but then his cross drifts over the goal.

65 min: Foxy skills by Pedri wide to the left, followed by a neat pass into the field. Barcelona works it right to the edge of the area, but then the founders of their attacks are on solid PSG defenses.

63 min: PSG enjoys possession in the other half. They don’t do much with it, but they will be happy as long as they keep Barça that goal.

61 min: Graceful interplay from Barcelona … followed by an all-powerful stramash in the penalty area as Barça tries to force the ball over the line. Marquinhos slides in to make a beautiful block on a shot of Messi from six meters!

59 min: PSG substitution: Danilo on, Gueye out, presumably because he has a yellow card.

59 min: PSG substitution: Di Maria on, Draxler off. The German had little influence on the procedure.

57 min: Marquinhos gets out of defense to intercept a pass from Messi.

55 min: At the beginning of this half, PSG suggested they had been told by Pochettino to press much higher and withdraw that deep. But that did not last long, because Barça pushed them back again.

53 min: Dembélé makes a smart flight again and is stolen in the box. He manages to wriggle free from his marker and put the ball over the face of the goal, but too far for his teammates.

50 minGueye sees yellow for stomping Griezmann’s foot in a misguided attempt to win the ball in midfield. Again, that’s symptomatic of PSG’s overall sluggishness in comparison to their opponents.

48 min: Stronger work by Diallo, who is another promising outburst from Dest. But Barça is still sharper in most other parts of the field.

47 min: Diallo does well in his initial engagement, showing composure to get up and dispossess Dest, ending an impending assault.

46 min: Pochettino made a change during the hiatus, introducing Diallo to Kurzawa at laeft-back.

BT has just shown a repeat of Navas’s penalty save, showing that the spot kick should have been retaken as the ball was cleared after it came off the crossbar by Verratti, who was in the D when Messi took the penalty. The strange thing is that VAR checked it at the time, but didn’t see it … yet they rather gave a penalty kick for an accidental foul off the ball.

“Having seen that ridiculous decision, it is very clear that the problem with VAR is not the system, but English officials,” storms David Singleton. “In the hectic Juve-Porto match yesterday, VAR barely stood out, and tonight English officials are giving a ridiculous penalty kick. The real question is, if Luiz was sent off for accidental contact in the box, which was apparently a fine against Wolves, why wasn’t that a red card? Nonsense decisions are one thing, but the inconsistencies are staggering. “

What a half that was! It gives us every reason to think that this tie is still alive. Barcelona could have been right, but their finish was wrong – except when Messi thundered one into the net from miles away -; Dembele missed several opportunities, Dest got a shot on the crossbar and Messi got a penalty saved, all after PSG got a seemingly insurmountable lead thanks to a very lucky penalty. Pochettino has to bring his players together during half-time, because bottling can take place here. Barça has hope …

45 + 2 min: The VAR check is completed. Play resumes with a corner to Barça, which is turned on by Busquets … and Florenzi goes off the line!

Navas is heading in the right direction, sending Messi’s sloppy penalty to the bar and out! Incroyable! But wait, a VAr review is on the way ….

Anthony Taylor points to the spot after Griezmann was caught in the penalty area by Kurzawa, who tried to clear a bouncing ball!

43 min: This is impressive from Barça, and alarming from PSG, who are on the rack, can’t get a foothold in midfield and looks slower all over the field. Unless they can work the ball to Mbappé on a counterattack, of course.

41 min: Dembélé returns the ball from the byline to Busquets at the end of the area. The midfielder hits it the first time, forcing Navas to make a difficult save with his knees.