On the Montjuïc hill, on the lawn of the Olympic stadium, PSG managed to climb faster, higher and stronger to reach the semi-final of the Champions League, a first since 2021. The first leg will take place April 30 or May 1 and the capital club will face an old acquaintance, an opponent who wants to be its anti-model: Dortmund.
The semi-finalists will be able to say that they were in the group of death at the start of the season since a final explanation, in two parts, will allow them to reach the final of the Champions League, scheduled for June 1. in London at the legendary Wembley stadium.
A total spectacle in two rounds
Fortunately the away goals rule no longer exists, it saved us from knots in our brains and the return to mathematics lessons which we should have followed more diligently. With ten goals in two matches and in less than a week, PSG and Barcelona delivered a total spectacle, two great football matches, certainly imperfect in their content, but as crazy as they are stunning. They enter the legend of the capital club, like the epics of the 1990s on Canal +, with songs that we will be able to watch again for a long time on the internet and that will be passed down from generation to generation.
You have to have strong nerves to accompany Paris in its European epic and this quarter-final back and forth put them in a tangle, with permanent reversals, ups and downs which make them hammer.
PSG would have ended up suffocated under a mountain of regrets if they had not obtained the right to dream, at least an extension after the thunderclap of the 29th. In the duel but late on Bradley Barcola, Araujo unbalanced him and was logically expelled. The Parisian gluttony was even ready to swallow a penalty straight away but the referee stuck to a single penalty. At eleven against ten for an hour, PSG saw their task become easier but the pressure of the result increased at the same time.
Dembélé turns the match
Ousmane Dembélé’s equalizer just before the break brought hope into this double confrontation dominated by the ex-Rennais, with three goals from Raphinha and a double from the French International. We weren’t necessarily expecting them on this pitch when two of the best strikers in Europe, Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappé, were still silent after eight goals scored in one match and 59 minutes. In the 61st minute, the captain of the Blues scored the qualifying goal with an indisputable penalty after a foul on Ousmane Dembélé.
The Parisian sides will have been devils, Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé weighing considerably in the game. Their influence settles the debate on the starting attack when Luis Enrique still wanted to introduce Marco Asensio last week in the first leg. The Parisian attacking trio outclassed the match, in the same proportions as Barça’s trident had dynamited Gianluigi Donnarumma’s defense at the Parc des Princes.
Parisian supporters will long remember the scoreboard at the Montjuïc stadium, this April 16, 2024. Photo LP / Fred Dugit LP / Fred Dugit
This comeback against PSG, like the last time, could not exist without the major contribution of the refereeing but this time, there is nothing to complain about. The expulsion and the penalty are entirely justified. Like the qualification of PSG, finally in the semi-final for the first time in three years. Luis Enrique and his men are ready to experience their May revolution. Happiness is within reach, it can be picked, offered and perhaps even given in Paris.
