Barcelona bid farewell to the European Champions League, after a 1-1 draw with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in the second leg of the final, and Liverpool won the English pass thanks to a double against Leipzig.
Saint-Germain, the runner-up last year, benefited from his great 4-1 victory at the Spanish opponent's stadium in the first leg last month, to win 5-2 in aggregate for the first-and-second matches, and obtain the nomination card for the quarter-finals of the tournament he dreams of winning for the first time in its history. .
Barcelona dreamed of a new "Remontada", compensation for its loss in the first leg, and a repeat of the amazing comeback that it achieved in the same round in the 2017 competition version against St. Germain, when it compensated for its 4-0 defeat away from its stadium, after sweeping the French capital 6-1 in the second leg. That took place at the Camp Nou stadium.
And at the Princes Park in Paris, Barcelona imposed its absolute domination throughout the match, and its players had more than one chance to score, but it was destroyed in front of Costa Rican Keylor Navas, the Saint Germain goalkeeper, who assumed the championship role in the meeting, thanks to his rescue that prevented the Spanish team from returning.
European Champions League
⚽️🥅 Messi keeps Barcelona's hopes with a goal or the most beautiful # Barcelona_Paris #beINUCL #UCL pic.twitter.com/3NhpzqqCTF
- beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) March 10, 2021
Despite Barcelona's control of the match, but Saint-Germain was the first to score by its young star, Kylian Mbappe, in the 30th minute from a penalty kick.
Argentine star Lionel Messi scored the equalizer for Barcelona in the 37th minute, before wasting a penalty kick in the third minute of calculated time, instead of lost time for the first half, which was saved by Navas.
This is the first time that Barcelona has failed to appear in the quarter-finals in the Champions League since the 2006/2007 season, as it was hoped to advance the tournament, which it was crowned five times, under the leadership of its president, Juan Laporta, who returned to head the club again, after His victory in the elections that took place last Sunday.
On the other hand, Liverpool shaken off the dust of its domestic crisis and made it through the Champions League quarter-finals.
Liverpool decided its qualification at the expense of Leipzig thanks to the goals of the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah and the Senegalese, Sadio Mane, in the 70 and 74 minutes after the first half ended with a goalless draw.
Liverpool won the two matches 4-0 in aggregate, as the team won the first leg at the same stadium with two goals in favor of Mane in the second half as well.
The match was held at the Puskas Arena in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, which hosted the first-leg match between the two teams, in light of travel restrictions and procedures applied in Germany due to the outbreak of the new Corona virus.
Liverpool has overcome the absences it suffers from in its ranks and the crisis it suffers from at the local level this season, where it is ranked eighth with 43 points, 7 points behind the fourth place qualifying for the Champions League next season.