PSG survived a first-half onslaught from Barcelona, where Lionel Messi scored but missed a penalty, to draw 1-1 and progress 5-2 on aggregate in the Champions League.
Ronald Koeman’s side needed to score four goals for the tie to swing in their favour in Paris and started like a team capable of producing them with Ousmane Dembele wasting some glorious early chances.
It was to be PSG who opened the scoring when referee Antony Taylor awarded a penalty via the use of the pitchside monitor to deem that Mauro Icardi had been fouled off the ball by Clement Lenglet. The penalty was dispatched by Kylian Mbappe as he became the youngest player in Champions League history to reach 25 goals in the competition, taking the mantle from Messi.
Despite falling behind, Barcelona remained positive and Messi thrashed home a fabulous strike to inspire some hope but that hope faded away when his penalty was saved by Keylor Navas just before half-time.
The Spanish giants needed three second-half goals to force extra-time but PSG were much better organised after the break and restricted Messi’s influence on the game.
At the same stage of the competition four years ago, Barcelona lost 4-0 in Paris only to win 6-1 at Camp Nou in one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history – a similar comeback looked plausible judging by the tempo Barcelona were playing at.
However, PSG moved four goals clear when Mbappe, who scored a hat trick at Camp Nou, netted from the spot. It was a controversial decision to award the penalty as Icardi was accidentally tripped by Lenglet when having no chance of reaching Mbappe’s cross. The incident was spotted by VAR and they instructed Taylor to head to the screen and he surprisingly overturned his original call of no penalty.
That goal was firmly against the run of play and, after Barca had squandered more chances, Messi equalised with a powerful shot from 25 yards that tore into the top left corner.
But Messi then had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Navas on the stroke of half-time, his first miss from the spot in the Champions League since 2015.
Barca kept probing in the second half, and Messi had a chance from close range but hesitated a split-second before shooting and allowed defender Marquinhos to block his shot with the goal gaping.