Andreas Christensen came off the bench to head in the winning goal as Barcelona beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in a thrilling first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday. Raphinha earlier scored twice for the Catalans at the Parc des Princes, opening the scoring for the Catalans late in the first half and then volleying the equalizer just after the hour mark. The score was rewritten as 2-2. In the meantime, PSG turned things around as they awoke from a poor first half performance and started in exciting fashion after the restart, scoring two goals in six minutes. None of the balls came from Kylian Mbappe.

Ousmane Dembélé faced his old club and Vitinha briefly gave the French giants the lead, but Barcelona recovered in stunning fashion to take control of the game.

Christensen’s goal, coming on as a substitute on his 28th birthday, ended PSG’s 27-game unbeaten run and gave Barca the lead heading into next Tuesday’s home game.

“I’m very proud. It was a great victory against one of the best teams in the world, but we were only halfway there,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said.

“PSG still have every chance on Tuesday, but we have a one-goal advantage and we will play at home.”

The second leg will be played at the Catalan club’s temporary home, Montjuïc, instead of the Camp Nou. The Camp Nou was the venue where Barcelona defeated Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 in 2017, and it is also the venue where Mbappe scored a fatal hat-trick in the 2021 match between the two teams.

“We could have won this game,” PSG coach Luis Enrique insisted.

“I’m not saying the outcome is unfair, but it comes down to the little details and we’re going to work hard to make sure the little details work in our favor.”

The story of the game was ultimately partly about Luis Enrique’s selection decision – he missed out on the suspended Achraf Hakimi but also missed out on teenage prodigy Warren Zaire Emery, And gave Marco Asensio an unexpected start.

The importance of this opportunity is clear for PSG, who have been eliminated in the last 16 in five of the past seven seasons and are back in the quarter-finals with Ronaldini O – a former star of both clubs – took a lap of honor ahead of PSG. When the team takes the field, there will be a Star Wars show for both the game and the home fans.

But it was difficult for the Paris team to achieve this goal, and Mbappe was once unable to play a role in an important game.

Appearing in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in four years, Barcelona grew in this game since Messi’s departure and nearly took the lead inside 20 minutes.

Home team goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma tried to take a corner kick but Robert Lewandowski got the better of him, but his header was blocked by Nuno Mendes.

– Donnarumma takes the spotlight –
It was Donnarumma’s first mistake and he was not proud of Barcelona taking the lead in the 37th minute.

The Italian came out to collect Lamine Yamal’s low pass from the right, but only managed to get the ball into the path of Raphinha, who gratefully fired into an unmarked net, his first goal of the game.

At halftime, PSG sent on Bradley Bakla to replace Asensio. The substitute moved to the right wing and Dembélé moved to the inside left corner near Mbappe.

The change in tactics paid off immediately, with PSG equalizing three minutes after the restart when Ronald Araujo failed to clear Mbappe’s baseline cutback correctly and the ball fell to Dembélé. , Dembélé shot high into the net while slipping.

It was his second goal since joining Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital from Barcelona last August.

In the 51st minute, the home team took the lead. Bakola and Lee Kang-in joined forces on the right, and Fabian Ruiz passed the ball to Vitinha, who controlled and inserted.

Just after the hour, Xavi made two substitutions. Pedri and Joao Felix came on, Yamal and Sergi Roberto came off, and Rafinha is now on the right.

Pedri’s first contribution was when he passed the ball to Raphinha, who fired his first volley from midfield and beat Donnarumma to make the score 2-2.

It was breathless stuff and Dembélé almost scored again, firing in from the far post before Barcelona won.

Donnarumma held firm when Christensen headed home Ilkay Gundogan’s corner kick.

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