UCL: Barcelona edge PSG in five goal thriller; Atletico beat Dortmund in Spain
Barcelona will take a 3-2 lead back to Spain for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie with Paris after a rollercoaster first meeting in the French capital.
Kang-in Lee and Marco Asensio were included in the Paris starting XI and both quickly made their presence felt with strikes that Marc-André ter Stegen had to deal with. Barcelona gradually grew into the contest and had two chances midway through the first half, Nuno Mendes clearing off line from Robert Lewandowski before Gianluigi Donnarumma sprawled low to his left to keep out Raphinha’s raking drive.
The goalkeeper could not deny the Brazilian forward in the 37th minute though, Raphinha whipping his finish into the far corner after Donnarumma has palmed away Lamine Yamal’s teasing low cross.
The home side struggled to keep their heads above water for the remainder of the first period but the interval worked wonders for Luis Enrique’s men as they were ahead within six minutes of the restart. Ousmane Dembélé’s thumping effort from Ronald Araújo’s half-clearance drew them level against his former club before Fabián Ruiz’s incisive pass was neatly dispatched across Ter Stegen by the marauding Vitinha.
Now it was Barcelona’s turn to try and clear their heads and they managed it in the 62nd minute when Raphinha grabbed his second, a poised volley after a perfectly-timed run to latch on to substitute Pedri’s lofted pass.
The Catalan club were not finished either. Dembélé hit a post and, within two minutes, Paris were behind when Andreas Christensen, on his 28th birthday, headed in İlkay Gündoğan’s corner moments after coming from the bench to leave Luis Enrique’s men with an uphill task next week.
Atlético de Madrid took a slim advantage in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Dortmund with a narrow first-leg victory at the Estadio Metropolitano
Atlético’s formidable European home form continued but the tie is still very much anyone’s following Dortmund’s late rally.
There was a wonderful atmosphere inside the Metropolitano ahead of kick-off, and the volume was turned up even higher as the hosts took the lead inside five minutes. Atleti’s high press worked to perfection as Dortmund defender Ian Maatsen was dispossessed on the edge of his own box, with midfielder Rodrigo De Paul taking full advantage and calmly firing past Gregor Kobel.
Diego Simeone’s side continued to control proceedings, and were close to doubling their lead almost immediately as Kobel was forced to tip away former Dortmund midfielder Axel Witsel’s acrobatic effort from a corner.
Just after the half-hour Atleti did punish Dortmund once more, Antonio Griezmann providing a lovely scooped pass to wing-back Samuel Lino, who coolly slotted in.
Dortmund got more of a foothold on the game in the second half, and despite being frustrated by some strong home defending they got a crucial goal back with nine minutes to go as substitute Sébastien Haller swivelled in the box and finished well past Jan Oblak.
Suddenly belief seemed to course through the visitors, and they twice came close to an equaliser when first Jamie Bynoe-Gittens’ curling effort hit the bar and then Julian Brandt headed onto the woodwork with the last action of the match as Atlético clung on to the win, setting the tie up nicely for the second leg in Germany on 16 April
