Barcelona had the Champions League semi-finals in their grasp.
Having beaten Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in the first leg of their quarter-final at the Parc des Princes last week, a spot in the final four for the first time since 2019 beckoned after Raphinha bundled the ball over the line after 12 minutes of Tuesday’s second leg.
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It should have been straightforward from there: 4-2 up on aggregate, in front of a home crowd, and with PSG there for the taking.
But we’re talking about Barcelona, a club who don’t do straightforward. Whether it be Lionel Messi’s emotional departure, teaching the football world about financial “levers”, or the emergence of a generation of La Masia academy graduates with the potential to rival the all-conquering group of the 2000s, Barcelona have regularly fluctuated from brilliant to basket case since that historic semi-final collapse against Liverpool in May 2019.
And this was one of their crazier nights — not quite up there with that Anfield nightmare, but a painful one nonetheless. Here’s how it unfolded…
29 mins: A needless red card
Having just received the ball from midfielder Frenkie de Jong in his own half, defender Ronald Araujo had several passing options ahead of him.
Jules Kounde was available on the right via a lofted pass over PSG left-winger Bradley Barcola, and Robert Lewandowski was also there in support if Araujo could find him beyond PSG midfielder Fabian Ruiz. To his right was Ilkay Gundogan, retreating into space to be in position to receive the ball.
And it was Gundogan who Araujo opted to play to, but his pass was poorly executed. It dropped into the path of PSG left-back Nuno Mendes, who hit a perfectly weighted first-time ball for Barcola, who charged down the visitors’ left wing and towards the penalty box.
Instead of retreating to defend his goal, Araujo ran directly towards Barcola, a decision former Manchester United and England central defender Rio Ferdinand, working as a pundit for the game’s UK broadcaster TNT Sports, described as “overconfidence in his physical capabilities”.
Had he been “less naive”, according to Ferdinand, Araujo would have sprinted closer to the goal and away from the ball, which may have meant Barcola would have had to beat him in a one-on-one — an aspect of defending Araujo excels at. In Ferdinand’s view, Araujo panicked in trying to win the ball back immediately, and the effects were costly.
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Barcola got to the ball first and took his first touch perfectly, knocking it across Araujo and towards goal while still being in his stride. Realising his man was bearing down on goal with only ’keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to beat, Araujo collided with Barcola, leaving Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs with no option but to send him off.
Without Barcelona’s most experienced centre-back, PSG’s talented front line grew more influential.
Eleven minutes after Araujo’s red card, Barcola crossed for former Barcelona man Ousmane Dembele to smash home from inside the box, drawing the scores level on the night.
54 mins: Set-piece sloppiness
Despite coach Xavi getting his players in at half-time with a one-goal aggregate advantage despite their disadvantage in personnel, Barcelona lacked structure and organisation after the interval. While PSG’s pace in attack can hurt any side, allowing players to roam into dangerous positions uncontested is inexcusable, even when down to 10 players.
PSG’s second goal on the night came through a quick corner routine. Fabian went close to Dembele, the set-piece taker, drawing Barcelona defenders away from the centre of their penalty area, but Dembele played a longer pass to Achraf Hakimi, positioned near the front-right corner of the box…
Gundogan converged quickly on Hakimi while De Jong shadowed him, leaving Vitinha in yards of space near the D for a square ball…
Hakimi passed inside to Vitinha, who drove a powerful low effort into the bottom right corner. Now, PSG were level on aggregate and sensing their opportunity.
56 mins: Xavi loses the plot
It was now that Xavi, having seen his players lose their discipline as detailed above, followed suit.
After De Jong was judged to have fouled Dembele near the halfway line, Xavi kicked a board protecting the TV cameraman positioned between him and his opposite number, Luis Enrique.
With just under 40 minutes of the 90 left to play, Barcelona were down their star central defender and their head coach — and had to score at least once to keep the tie alive.
59 mins: Cancelo’s moment of madness
Three minutes later, Joao Cancelo compounded the chaos by giving away an inexplicable penalty.
With Dembele’s poor first touch taking him away from goal, the sensible decision would have been to cut off the space and guide him off towards the corner flag.
Instead, Cancelo went towards Dembele and attempted a sliding tackle, failing to win the ball because the PSG and France winger protected it with his left foot.
Mbappe fired the resulting spot kick beyond Ter Stegen, putting PSG’s 11 men 3-1 up on the night against Barcelona’s managerless 10, and 5-4 on aggregate.
66 mins: Another red card…
Having scored so many big goals for Manchester City, it was no surprise to see Gundogan pushing Barcelona on in pursuit of an aggregate equaliser. He came close again shortly after Mbappe’s first goal of the evening and had a penalty shout waved away by the officials despite replays showing that his foot came in contact with Vitinha’s leg.
Shortly after, with no Xavi there to protest to the fourth official, goalkeepers coach Jose Ramon de la Fuente took that responsibility on this occasion. Kovacs handed him a red card too for his troubles, the third he brandished on the night.
89 mins: The final blow
Despite Barcelona’s efforts following PSG’s third goal, the tie was put beyond reach in the final minute of the 90.
Mbappe won the ball on the edge of his own penalty box from a corner and passed to Hakimi, who dribbled ahead into space with the Barcelona defence having vacated their defensive responsibilities in desperate search of an equaliser.
Hakimi set it back for Mbappe, who dribbled into the home box. His initial shot was saved by Ter Stegen.
The German also kept out Marco Asensio’s shot on the rebound, and the ball fell into Kounde’s path. He made a sliding clearance…
…however, it deflected and landed in the path of his France team-mate Mbappe, who hammered home from close range with his left foot.
From a goal up at kick-off, Barcelona had contrived to lose 4-1 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate: a destructive collapse almost entirely of their own making.
Game over, tie over, season over.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
