PSG was valiant but the step was too high. As might have been feared, Paris did not manage to overcome the heavy handicap conceded at the end of the first leg. A week ago, Raul Gonzalez’s team was stunned at home in Paris against Barça (30-22). In Catalonia, right next to the Camp Nou, she failed to make up for this delay. She never had the chance and there was no suspense.
After a quarter of an hour of play, the Spanish champions were leading by 2 goals (10-8) and no one could imagine a miracle for PSG anymore. At the break (17-12), there was no longer a shadow of doubt. Mass was said. The second half changed nothing even if Paris resisted well to lose this time by a single goal (32-31). As a consolation prize, Paris even won the second half.
If this Champions League campaign is ultimately a failure, because the number 1 objective was to go to the Final Four, it cannot be explained by this double confrontation. Barcelona remains the big favorite of this Champions League and will present themselves in a strong position on June 8 and 9 in Cologne to seek a twelfth coronation.
There is no shame in losing to such mechanics. PSG especially lost its chances of going further during the group stage. This was not good, Paris lost too much (8W, 1D, 5L) to finish in third place with the certainty of inheriting a big piece in the quarter-final. Playing Barcelona could not be a gift and it would have taken an achievement to pass.
Nikola Karabatic’s last match in the Champions League
The consequence of this elimination is that we will never see Nikola Karabatic again in the Champions League. The immense story between the triple winner (2003, 2007, 2015) and the tournament ends there, in Barcelona with the club with which he won the last of his 3 continental club trophies.
Deprived of the Final Four, the four-time world and European champion will play his very last club match on May 31 at the Accor Arena in Paris against Aix. This Thursday evening, he came close to his 1000th goal scored in the colors of PSG since he arrived there in 2015. He scored twice in Barcelona and his counter currently stands at 999.
Barça, for its part, joins the Germans of Kiel (miraculously against Montpellier) and those of Magdeburg, as well as the Danes of Aalborg in the Final Four which will take place in Cologne. These are the four teams that came out on top in the group stage: the logic is respected. This 4-player final will only concern four French internationals: Dika Mem, Melvyn Richardson and Timothey N’Guessan for Barcelona, and Kiel goalkeeper Samir Bellahcene. The others will be able to breathe a little before thinking about Olympic preparation.
