Barcelona achieved a crucial victory in the first leg of the 2023/2024 Champions League quarter-finals. Visiting PSG headquarters, Las Azulgrana managed to win with a score of 3-2.
Barcelona's winning goal was contributed by a pair of goals from Raphinha and one goal from Andreas Christensen. Meanwhile PSG reduced the position thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha.
Thanks to this victory, Barcelona has good capital to play the second leg at home next week.
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First round
With their status as hosts, PSG tried to appear pressing in this match. Les Parisien immediately stepped on the gas to attack the visitors' goal.
The first dangerous opportunity in this match appeared in the fifth minute, after Mbappe successfully fired a shot after receiving a pass from Fabian Ruiz. But unfortunately this shot went wide.
Not long after, ter Stegen was forced to make a brilliant save to stop Marco Asensio's shot.
Barcelona was not without opportunities in the first half. In the 20th minute, Robert Lewandowski almost scored after his header from Gundogan's corner aimed at the PSG goal, but Mendes managed to sweep the ball into the goal mouth.
Second round
At half-time, Enrique made one substitution. Bradley Barcola came on to replace Marco Asensio.
At the start of the second half, PSG immediately stepped on the gas to catch up. As a result, after only three minutes of the match, the score was back to a 1-1 draw.
Starting from the Barcelona defense trying to ward off the chaos in front of their goal, the ball fell to Dembele's feet, then the winger outwitted the Barcelona defender and then fired a hard shot which hit Ter Stegen's goal.
Two minutes later, PSG successfully turned the lead to 2-1. This time Fabian Ruiz gave Vitinha a through pass, where the midfielder entered the opponent's penalty box and fired a low shot which ter Stegen failed to block.
This goal made Barcelona try to increase the tempo of their attacks. As a result, not long ago the position was tied at 2-2.
Pedri fired a cross from the middle of the field, where Raphinha managed to escape the offside trap and fired a volley into the PSG goal.
After the score was equal, the match became even more exciting. Because both teams carried out intense buying and selling attacks.
In the 77th minute, Barcelona took the lead again over PSG. Starting from Ilkay Gundogan's corner kick, the ball was headed perfectly by Andreas Christensen who was unmarked in the PSG penalty box. The score changed to 3-2 in favor of the visitors.
In the remainder of the match, there was buying and selling attacks between the two teams. PSG tried to press, while Barcelona preferred to wait and launch a counterattack.
Until the match ended, the score 3-2 did not change in favor of the visiting team.
Composition of Players for Both Teams
PSG (4-3-3): Donnarumma; Mendes, Beraldo, Hernandez, Marquinhos; Ruiz, Vitinha, Kang-In; Mbappe, Asensio, Dembele
Coach: Luis Enrique
Barcelona (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Cancelo, Cubarsi, Araujo, Kounde; de Jong, Roberto, Gundogan; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal
Coach: Xavi Hernandez
Match Statistics
PSG - Barcelona
Goals: 2-3
Total Shots: 18-15
Shots on Target: 6-7
Possession: 59%-41%
Fouls: 14-8
Offsides: 4-3