Barcelona produced the greatest comeback in UEFA Champions League history when they scored three late goals to beat Paris St Germain 6-1 to claim a 6-5 aggregate victory in their second round clash. Trailing 4-0 from the first leg, Barca looked dead and buried as they needed three goals going into the final two minutes of ordinary time … and somehow they got them.
Barca led 3-0 on the night after 50 minutes Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi (penalty) and an own goal from Layvin Kurzawa, but when Edinson Cavani netted 12 minutes later, they needed three goals to advance. That seemed a pipe-dream with two minutes remaining, but Brazilian forward Neymar netted an excellent free-kick, before adding a penalty two minutes later. They went into the five minutes of injury-time needing one more to avoid going out on the away goals rule, and it duly arrived as Sergi Roberto poked the ball home from Neymar’s pass. It is the first time in history that a side had come back from a 4-0 away defeat in the first leg to advance.
Their exploits at the Nou Camp surpassed the previous best second-leg comeback in Champions League history, which was achieved by Deportivo La Coruna against reigning champions AC Milan in 2004. Trailing 4-1 from the first leg of their quarter-final tie, Deportivo raced into a 3-0 lead in the return leg and, with 14 minutes remaining, clinched a 5-4 aggregate win when Fran volleyed in the Spanish side's fourth goal of the night. A four-goal first-leg deficit has been overturned in other Uefa competitions by three other clubs: PSG stunned Luis Enrique's men in the first leg as they completely outplayed the Spanish champions - 16 shots on goal with 10 on target as they inflicted a 4-0 defeat.
Angel di Maria, Cavani and Julian Draxler were in superb form as manager Unai Emery masterminded his first victory over Barca in 23 attempts. But their attacking threat from three weeks ago was replaced by a nervous and clumsy defence as PSG looked resigned to a night of toil from the off. The defence were a shambles - Marco Verratti and Marquinhos let the ball bounce for the first goal, Marquinhos again failed to deal with the second and Meunier got in the way of Neymar to concede a penalty for the third. Pressed back to the edge of their penalty box, they were unable to assert any dominance in midfield and with Di Maria on the bench, still feeling the effects of an injury, there was no outlet for the passes.
Cavani, in prolific goalscoring form, gave his side a hope of holding on in the 62nd-minute, but he will inevitably face criticism after missing vital chances to put the tie to bed. Emery, who led Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League titles from 2014-2016, got his tactics very wrong in what was a disastrous result for PSG. The domestic title is far from safe, they are three points behind Monaco in Ligue 1 and will need to recover quickly to keep up their challenge for a domestic double. They have lost in the last eight in each of the past four years of the Champions League, but did not even make it that far this season thanks to Barcelona's brilliance. Neymar was brilliant throughout. He curled in a free-kick and scored a penalty when Barcelona looked dejected and out.
