By Peter Ochieng
French Ligue 1 Champions PSG and Germany Bundesliga side, Borrussia Dortmund produced a memorable Champions League classic to storm into the semis, at the expense of Spanish sides, Barcelona and Athletico Madrid respectively.
Going into the second leg on Tuesday night, Barca were leading PSG 3-2, while Atletico were 2-1 up against Dortmund, after coming out tops during first leg fixtures last week.
Brazilian winger Raphinha started from where he left last week (scored twice in the first leg) when he put Barca ahead at the Camp Nou in the 12th minute.
Things took a wrong turn for Barcelona when full back Ronald Araujo was shown a straight red card, before the half hour mark.
Former Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele equalised in the 40th minute, occasioned largely by his former team being one man down.
Vitinha scored PSG’s second in the 54th minute, before Barca manager Xavi was also shown a red card.
At that point in time, the teams were 4-4 on aggregate, and with everything still to play for, for both teams.
Both Dembele and Vitinha were on the score sheet during last week’s loss to Barcelona at home.
Five minutes later, Kylian Mbappe scored from the penalty spot to give PSG an advantage.
The World Cup winner put the match beyond Barca with his second goal in the 89th minute, making it 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.
PSG manager Luis Enrique, a former Barca tactician said his team would still have won and gone through even without the red red card.
Xavi, his opposite number, on the other hand said without the red card his team would stand a big chance.
“I’m proud of this team. It wasn’t easy for me as former Barça manager, I hope it won’t happen again!” Mbappé has been a proper leader from the beginning to the end. Vitinha but also Ousmane… it’s been fantastic game by all of them,” said Enrique.
At the Signal Iduna Park in Germany, Borrussia Dortmund beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 to book a semi final slot, with a 5-4 aggregate win.
Defending Champions Manchester City host Real Madrid, as Bayern Munich welcome Arsenal in the last two second leg fixtures tonight.
Last week, the Madrid Man City tie ended 3-3 while Arsenal versus Bayern pulled out a 2-2 draw.