After its victory (3-2) in the first leg at the Parc des Princes, Barça lost at home on the return leg (4-1). A setback precipitated by the red card of Ronald Araujo in the 29th minute of play, guilty of a foul on Bradley Barcola who had gained the upper hand on the Uruguayan defender thanks to a sharp catch on the ball.
If the Blaugrana defender’s fault seems obvious, the Catalan press does not agree. Mundo Deportivo speaks of “suspicious refereeing”, a “questionable” and “deadly” red card, which “resuscitated a PSG which had started in the same line of helplessness as the first leg”. According to Sport, “Araujo’s red card marked the beginning of the end for Barça. From then on, another match was being played: a Barça without protection and a PSG which smelled of blood and had no mercy.”
“The referees have lost all respect for Barça”
If Sport does not contest the penalty awarded to PSG following a foul by Joao Cancelo on Ousmane Dembélé (61st), it believes that there was a foul by Vitinha on Ilkay Gündogan a few minutes later (64th). “It is obvious that UEFA referees have lost all respect for Barça in recent times,” writes the Catalan media. The sports daily believes that “the Blaugrana lacked the experience to calm the pace of the match from the start of the second period. »
For its part, the Madrid press focused its attention on Kylian Mbappé, expected to be a future Real Madrid player. “Mbappé kills Barça” headlines AS when Marca opts for “Mbappé devours Barça”. The French striker (25 years old) was undoubtedly not the best player in the Parisian side given the performances of Vitinha, Dembélé (elected man of the match) or even Marquinhos, but the Madrid journalists were focused on his performance , which impressed them.
