The French attackers helped lead the Ligue 1 giants to a huge victory and send their team into the Champions League semi-finals
Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe broke Barcelona hearts on Tuesday as they helped inspire Paris Saint-Germain to an awesome comeback victory to send the French giants into the semi-finals of the Champions League. Ex-Barca winger Dembele scored once and won a penalty on his return to Catalunya, while Mbappe struck twice as PSG won 4-1 in the second leg of their quarter-final tie.
Dembele overcame relentless jeers from the home crowd and a disappointing start that saw his side go a goal behind when Lamine Yamal jinked past Nuno Mendes and whipped the ball in for Raphinha to divert home.
The match took a huge turn in PSG's favour, though, when Ronald Araujo was sent off for bringing down Bradley Barcola just outside the box after half an hour. A little over 10 minutes later, the French side were level and it was, surprise, surprise, Dembele who blasted in the equaliser amid the constant boos that came his way throughout the half.
It was in the second half that Barca seemed to unravel, though, as PSG's dominance grew. Less than 10 minutes into the half, the hosts gave Vitinha all the time in the world to line up a shot and blast into the bottom corner from outside the box. Then, within a few minutes, Barcelona coach Xavi was sent off and Kylian Mbappe had made it 3-1 by sending a penalty kick high into the net after Joao Cancelo had fouled Dembele in the box.
Oddly, Barca showed some proper fight later in the half as Robert Lewandowski forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into an excellent save and Raphinha had a couple of good efforts, but their misery was compounded by Mbappem who finished at the second time of asking after a late counter-attack.
In the end, Luis Enrique was on the right end of a great comeback as PSG ran out 6-4 aggregate winners, exorcising the ghosts of that famous Remontada he oversaw as Barca coach in 2017.
GOAL rates Luis Enrique's players from Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys...
Goalkeeper & Defence
Gianluigi Donnarumma (7/10):
Pulled off a great save to keep Lewandowski out deep in the second half and denied Raphinha too.
Achraf Hakimi (7/10):
Looked restricted as he was rather toothless in attack in the first half, but came to life a bit more in the second and had a deadly shot saved before teeing up Vitinha.
Marquinhos (7/10):
Swept up at the back with some key clearances and was comfortable on the ball when they built from the back.
Lucas Hernandez (6/10):
Made a couple of important tackles to keep Lewandowski quiet.
Nuno Mendes (5/10):
Destroyed by Yamal for the first goal in Barca's first proper attack.
Midfield
Warren Zaire-Emery (5/10):
Ineffective despite seeing plenty of the ball.
Vitinha (7/10):
Smart with his passes as he looked to carve out a chance while Barca restricted the space up-field. Lashed home a beauty
Fabian Ruiz (6/10):
Saw a dangerous shot go agonisingly wide and dug in with some important challenges.
Attack
Ousmane Dembele (8/10):
Was having a woeful evening in front of his former fans until he blasted in the equalising goal and came close to getting a second shortly afterwards. Inflicted further damage by winning the penalty, too.
Kylian Mbappe (8/10):
Forced Ter Stegen into a first-half save and did well to convert the penalty before adding to the misery with his team's fourth.
Bradley Barcola (8/10):
Had an excellent game. Zoomed ahead of Araujo to force the defender into a sending off and then whipped in a deadly ball to set up Dembele.
Subs & Manager
Lee Kang-in (5/10):
On for little over 10 minutes but had little influence.
Marco Asensio (6/10):
Had a good shot saved and the rebound fell to Mbappe for the 4-1 goal.
Manuel Ugarte (5/10):
A quiet game after replacing Zaire-Emery in midfield.
Randal Kolo Muani (N/A):
A late replacement for Dembele.
Luis Enrique (7/10):
His team started fairly strong but fell behind early on. Still, they did well to fight back and capitalise on their numerical advantage. Ensured Lewandowski was kept quiet while Dembele, Barcola and Mbappe overpowered their hosts.