Dribble, 16.4/video editing: Ziv Steiner
Six times Paris Saint-Germain lost the first game at home in the European knockout stage, and all six times they were eliminated. Last night (Tuesday) she smashed the statistics in the seventh attempt, with a huge 1:4 in Barcelona that erased the 3:2 loss from six days ago and sent her to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where she will meet Dortmund who celebrated their own impressive turnaround with 2:4 over Atlético Madrid.
The French champion, who is of course on the way to another championship and will also play in the cup final against Lyon, has kept the dream of the treble and hopes to lift the European title for the first time in its history. This could be a perfect farewell for Kylian Mbappe, who after the disappointment in the first game made up for it tonight with a double and remained in the factory. "The perfect revenge," read the headlines in France.
PSG met Dortmund earlier in the season as part of the group stage, when they won 0:2 at home and finished with 1:1 in Germany. In the six meetings between the teams, they lost only once: 2:1 in the round of 16 in 2020, but in the return match they made amends with a 0:2 at home and continued from there until the first final in their history, where they lost 1:0 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon. This time too the French will host the rematch.
Luis Enrique
defined it as "the evening that changed everything". "We knew it was possible to turn the bowl upside down, even if many didn't leave us a chance. You always hope for one evening that changes everything, and that's what happened tonight. In my opinion, only our fans believed it was possible."
The coach added: "I am very proud of our first 12 minutes, until the goal we conceded. We showed what we want to do here. Although we conceded, we recovered immediately and did everything better than Barcelona. Everything changed of course after the red card, from that moment it was more complicated for them "My players showed a lot of passion and character. It's not easy to play against my former team, but I've done my job. I hope it won't happen again."
On Mbappe, who scored 48 goals in the Champions League and rose to ninth place all-time, he said: "He is a leader, from the beginning to the end. When the team feels that such an important player is ready to carry us with him... I am very happy for all my players, I would like to mention this time Vitinia, but also Osman Dembele."
When asked if there was a chance for the star to stay, the coach laughed: "Let's wait to hear him. It's like a trial. Until Mbappe speaks, I'm on the standard of a witness."
Mbappe, for his part, seemed very emotional at the end, and gave a patriotic speech. "From the first day I joined this club, I felt immense pride. There are better moments and less, and sometimes this pride is a little damaged. But at the bottom of the line, there is nothing more special than representing this club, the capital city of my country, where I grew up. As a Parisian, it's amazing to experience such an evening".
Mbappe added: "My biggest dream is to win the Champions League with PSG. We beat a big team tonight, and we'll try to get to Wembley. Tonight we played like a real team, it's a huge day for the club. On a day like this, I'm even more proud to be a part From this club. The victory is also dedicated to the fans who accompanied us here and pushed us throughout the game."
More on the subject
The other side of the Hermontada: PSG in the semi-finals after a huge 1:4 in Barcelona
Historical landmarks: the numbers behind PSG's victory over Barcelona
Some of the Barcelona players cried, Xavi: "The season is over because of an error of judgment "
Neymar reacted bluntly to the compliments about Mbappe: "A bunch of eggs"
Zavitzer cooked twice and scored the 2:4, Dortmund in the semi-finals of the champions
Osman Dembele
, who scored in both games and also scored the penalty that completed the upheaval in the summary of the meetings after receiving curses and scorn from the former fans, was chosen as the man of the match and said: "We all believed, even after the 3:2 loss. We didn't give up, we knew we could score here. There was a big change On everyone's part, we worked well all week with the coach. Despite the early absorption, we didn't let it get us down."
Vitinia
: "My goal? The feeling was wonderful, I dreamed about it for a long time. We are in the semi-finals, what we did is amazing. We are happy. Except for our fans, no one believed in us. Even after the goal we conceded, the coach told us that we will win the game thanks to our mentality We stayed cool and what did Luis Enrique bring, he contributed a lot to us, tactically, in the way he talks to us."
The president of the club,
Nasser Al Khalaifi
, told RMC at the end: "It is wonderful, we have been waiting for this moment. We are a big club and want to go as far as possible. We were criticized a lot, but I was very sure that we are ready for this moment. The Champions League is difficult, the details The little ones are crucial. I spoke to Luis Enrique and told him that I want to qualify. I also want to thank the fans. They are the best fans in the world and we are proud of it The champions, it will be difficult. We will prepare well, the coach knows Dortmund very well."