Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 10:51 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Barcelona was stranded in the eighth finals of the Champions League on Wednesday evening. Three weeks after the 1-4 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, the team of trainer Ronald Koeman failed to force at least one extra time in the Parc des Princes: 1-1. It is the first time since 2006/2007 that Barcelona is not among at least the last eight of the European tournament. The Spanish top club can now fully focus on the battle for the national title in LaLiga and in addition, the final of the Copa del Rey against Athletic Club is scheduled for five weeks.

PSG and Barcelona played one of the best first halves in the eighth finals of the Champions League. Koeman’s team entered the field with the belief that a new one remontada was possible. Barcelona controlled the game in the opening phase and also had the prospect of at least one goal. The PSG defenders had their hands full with Ousmane Dembélé, who was emphatically trying to get the scoreboard moving. The best chance for the Catalans was after 22 minutes: a bet from Sergiño Dest went through Keylor Navas and the bar, however, not against the ropes. One minute later, Lionel Messi was millimeters short to cash in on a ball from Dembele. Not much later fate struck.

Clément Lenglet unluckily kicked the heel of Mauro Icardi in an attack by PSG, who went to the ground in the penalty area, moaning. Referee Anthony Taylor went to the screen and eventually pointed to the dot: Kylian Mbappé sent Marc-André ter Stegen into the wrong corner. Barcelona reacted well to the setback, however, and a genius from Messi brought the visitors to the same level a few minutes later: the star hit from a great distance with the left and chased the ball into the top corner. Still, Messi went to the dressing room disappointed when the halftime signal sounded. A minute earlier, after a foul by Layvin Kurzawa on Antoine Griezmann, the Argentinian shot the ball from eleven meters through the legs of Navas against the crossbar, after which the ball went back into the field.

The exciting first half gave way to a second company in which PSG had much better defensive order and Barcelona played a slower pace. After an hour of play, Mauricio Pochettino chose to take Julian Draxler and Issa Gueye to the side and bring Ángel Di María and Danilo on the line. Koeman, who had brought in Firpo Junior for Óscar Mingueza just before the 1-1, opted for the entrance of Trincao in the place of Dest a few minutes later. Barcelona struggled to create chances and got no further than a blocked shot from Messi and a header from Sergio Busquets at the front post. Navas, however, was attentive and reversed the midfielder’s bet.

Barcelona needed three goals to at least force an extension, but even the 1-2 was hardly in the air. A bet by Griezmann went over the goal and crosses by Jordi Alba and Trincao passed everything and everyone. In the final phase, Koeman opted for the entrance of Martin Braithwaite, Miralem Pjanic and Ilaix Moriba. For the latter it was his debut in the Champions League. Barcelona will only come into action again next Monday: then the home game with the last player Huesca is on the program.