The Champions League is over for this season for FC Barcelona and Dutch international Frenkie de Jong. The Catalans failed in the quarter-finals against Paris Saint-Germain. Barcelona lost 4-1 in front of their own crowd. Six days earlier, coach Xavi's team won 3-2 in France. Barcelona played with one man less for an hour after a direct red card for defender Ronald Araújo.
PSG put pressure on Barcelona from the start. The first time the home team came out dangerously, it was an immediate hit. After good preparatory work by the fast Lamine Yamal, Raphinha worked the ball into the goal with his knee at the near post. The Brazilian already scored twice in the first meeting.
With a margin of two goals, Barcelona seemed to be in a good position. Araújo's slight foul on Bradley Barcola, who broke through, caused the turnaround. With ten men, Barcelona came under even more pressure. Shortly before half time, Ousmane Dembélé shot the ball high and hard into the goal (1-1), on a pass from Barcola.
After the break, it was time to wait for Paris Saint-Germain to take the lead. That came in the 54th minute. After a short corner kick, the ball was tapped wide to Vitinha. The Portuguese scored with a low long-range shot (1-2). Shortly after that goal, Xavi was punished with a red card for commenting on the lead.
The pain for Barcelona became even greater after an hour of play. João Cancelo knocked down Dembélé, after which Kylian Mbappé converted the penalty (1-3). With ten men, Barcelona became dangerous a few times, but a goal and accompanying extra time were no longer possible. Mbappé finally decided the match in the 89th minute from a counter: 1-4.
Dortmund makes up for away defeat
Borussia Dortmund reached the semi-finals for the first time since 2013. The German team with defender Ian Maatsen won 4-2 against Atlético Madrid in their own Signal Iduna Park and that was enough after last week's 2-1 defeat in Madrid. Dortmund took a 2-0 lead in the first half. Julian Brandt and Ian Maatsen scored for the Germans. In the second half, Mats Hummels scored an own goal and Ángel Correa scored the equalizer. Niclas Füllkrug then headed Borussia to 3-2 and Marcel Sabitzer scored the decisive goal for the Germans.
Atlético coach Diego Simeone had warned his players about the bright start of the Germans, who eliminated PSV in the eighth finals. The Spaniards saw Sabitzer wait too long, allowing César Azpilicueta to prevent a shot. On the other hand, Álvaro Morata not only shot the ball to the right of goalkeeper Gregor Kobel, but also off the goal.
The visitors withstood the first rush, but the score was still 1-0 for Dortmund. A pass from Hummels in the 34th minute released Brandt on the right and he fired the ball in via the hand of goalkeeper Jan Oblak. Five minutes later Maatsen made it 2-0. On Sabitzer's instructions, the 22-year-old Dutchman shot unstoppably into the right corner.
Simeone brought on Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo Riquelme and Correa in the second half. But the goal that brought Atlético back into the match came from Hummels. He tried to deflect Mario Hermoso's header and tapped the ball behind his own goalkeeper. Correa was close to making it 2-2 after a quick switch, but he also shot just wide to the right. In a subsequent attack he hit the target in two instances.
However, Füllkrug leveled the score over two games with a striking header. Sabitzer, already good for two assists, then shot Dortmund to the last four.
(AP)
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