Tuesday, April 16 was not a good night for Spanish football after two of its teams crushed out of the UEFA Champions League quarter finals in dramatic fashion.
Despite La Liga giants Barcelona welcoming Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys with a win advantage going into the second leg, a moment of madness from defender Ronald Araujo in the 29th minute saw the Catalans reduced to 10 men, and the rest is history.
Barcelona started brightly when Lamine Yamal dribbled past Nuni Mendes and whipped the ball in for Raphinha to slot home in the 12th minute.
PSG turnaround
At this point, PSG was in a difficult situation as they were trailing 4-2 on aggregate. But the match took a huge turn in PSG’s favour when Araujo was sent off for brining down Bradley Barcola just outside the box.
Ex-Barca winger Ousmane Dembele overcame constant jeers from the home crowd to score one and win a penalty enroute to PSG winning 4-1 , 6-4 on aggregate, to advance to the next stage.
Kylian Mbappe slotted home the resulting penalty and also finished a terrific counter-attack football to round off a great comeback.
‘We are annoyed’
Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández, who also received a red card during the match, fumed about the decision to send Araujo off.
He said that Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs was a “disaster” and that showing a red card to Araujo killed the quarterfinal.
“We are annoyed,” Xavi said. “The red card marked the tie. We were well organised 11 vs. 11. It completely changed everything. For me, it’s too much to send [Araújo] off there.
“The referee was really bad. I told him, he was a disaster. He killed the tie. I don’t like speaking about referees but it has to be said. I don’t understand it.
“It’s not good going down to 10 players and from that point on it’s another game. For as much as we speak [about the match], the red card marks everything.”
Barcelona’s goalkeeping coach was also sent off.
PSG will face off with German side Borussia Dortmund, who overcame Spanish giants Atletico Madrid to advance to the semi-finals of club football’s most prestigious tournament.
