Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final encounter on Wednesday, with Andreas Christensen scoring the winning goal.
Raphinha leveled for Barcelona with his second goal of the match, before Christensen headed in from a corner in the 77th minute.
In the meantime, PSG had turned the game around after a terrible first half performance, scoring two goals in six minutes after the restart, neither of which came from Kylian Mbappe.
Ousmane Dembele scored against his former club, and Vitinha temporarily put the French side ahead, only for Barcelona to rebound in spectacular fashion to seize control of the tie.
Christensen’s goal, scored soon after being brought as a substitute on his 28th birthday, halted PSG’s 27-game unbeaten streak and gave Barcelona a lead to defend at home next Tuesday.
The second leg will be played at Montjuic, the Catalan club’s temporary home, rather of the Camp Nou, which hosted Barcelona’s historic 6-1 victory over PSG in 2017 and a lethal Mbappe hat-trick in a 2021 meeting between the rivals.
The Parisians were widely regarded as the favourites before into this game, thanks in large part to the presence of Mbappe and Dembele in attack.
Following threats by the Islamic State group on stadiums, security measures were tightened for all of this week’s quarterfinals.
However, the intrigue of this game was also about PSG coach Luis Enrique’s selection decisions, which included missing the banned Achraf Hakimi but also omitting young phenom Warren Zaire-Emery and starting Marco Asensio unexpectedly.
The significance of the occasion for PSG, who had been eliminated in the last 16 in five of the previous seven seasons, was clear, with Ronaldinho — a former star for both clubs — performing a lap of honour ahead of the game and home fans putting on a Star Wars display as the teams took the field.
But Paris struggled to live up to it, with Mbappe failing to deliver in a crucial encounter.
Barcelona advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in four years and since Lionel Messi’s departure, and they nearly led after 20 minutes.
Gianluigi Donnarumma attempted to punch away a corner, but Robert Lewandowski arrived first, only to have his header saved off the line by Nuno Mendes.
Donnarumma in spotlight
Donnarumma’s first wobble came in the 37th minute, when Barcelona took the lead.
The Italian ran out to meet Lamine Yamal’s low pass in from the right, but only managed to direct it into the path of Raphinha, who gratefully blasted into an open net for his first goal in the competition.
At halftime, PSG replaced Asensio with Bradley Barcola, who moved to the right wing and Dembele to an inside-left position near Mbappe.
The tactical shift paid off immediately, as PSG equalized three minutes after the restart when Ronald Araujo failed to clear Mbappe’s cutback from the byline, allowing Dembele to blast a shot high into the net while slipping.
It was only his second PSG goal since moving to the French city from Barcelona in August.
The home team took the lead in the 51st minute, with Barcola and Lee Kang-in combining on the right before Fabian Ruiz found Vitinha, who controlled and prodded in.
Just past the hour mark, Xavi made a double substitution, with Pedri and Joao Felix replacing Yamal and Sergi Roberto, with Raphinha taking their place on the right side.
Pedri made his first contribution by floating a ball forward for Raphinha, who came in the middle to meet it on the volley, his effort beating Donnarumma to make it 2-2.
It was exhilarating, and Dembele nearly scored again, but his shot hit the far post moments before Barcelona triumphed.
Donnarumma remained glued to his line as Ilkay Gundogan produced a corner, which Christensen headed in.