Friday, March 10, 2017

Barcelona made Champions League history by becoming the first team to overturn a first-leg 4-0 deficit as they knocked out Paris St-Germainto reach the quarter-finals for the 10th successive season.

The Spanish champions were 5-3 down on aggregate in the 88th minute, but scored three goals in the final seven minutes in one of the greatest European ties of all time.Neymar's free-kick and penalty followed by SergiRoberto's 95th-minute winner sealed victory on an incredible night at the Nou Camp.Barcelona had led 2-0 at the break courtesy of Luis Suarez's header after just three minutes and Layvin Kurzawa's own goal.And they added another shortly after half-time when Neymar fell over Thomas Meunier in the box and Lionel Messi converted the penalty.Edinson Cavani lashed home for PSG on 61 minutes and the quarter-finals looked beyond Barca, but they obviously had not read the script.Neymar curled a sumptuous free-kick into the top corner before Suarez won a controversial penalty and gave it to the Brazilian to convert - which he did, leaving Barca with one goal to find in injury time.And Neymar, who delivered a stunning performance, turned provider for substitute Roberto, who poked home his first goal of the season as the Nou Camp exploded.*.5 live Football Daily: Listen to reaction after Barca's amazing feat*.Match report: Borussia Dortmund 4-0 Benfica (agg 4-1)*.Relive Barcelona's incredible comebackHow Barcelona made history - minute by minuteLuis Suarez celebrates Barcelona's first goal of the evening*.3: Luis Suarez goal, Barcelona 1-0 PSG (1-4)*.40': Layvin Kurzawa own-goal, Barcelona 2-0 PSG (2-4)*.50': Lionel Messi penalty, Barcelona 3-0 PSG (3-4)*.62': Edinson Cavani goal, Barcelona 3-1 PSG (3-5)*.88': Neymar free-kick, Barcelona 4-1 PSG (4-5)*.90'+1: Neymar penalty, Barcelona 5-1 PSG (5-5)*.90'+5: Sergi Roberto goal, Barcelona 6-1 PSG (6-5)'Deep, instinctive passion at its most authentic and unrefined'The Nou Camp holds close to 100,000 fans- the majority of whom went wild at the final whistleBBC Sport's Spanish Football writer Destiny chisom at the Nou CampMayhem, utter mayhem.All around me, people were hugging, jumping, screaming. Grown men were crying and strangers were leaping into each other's arms.Unlike so much of modern sport, there was nothing contrived or orchestrated about those celebrations, about that moment.This was deep, instinctive passion at its most authentic and unrefined. Just pure, wordless, thoughtless exhilaration. And it is surely for moments like this, which come along once everyfew years if you're lucky, that sport is so compelling.From a personal point of view, being there was aprivilege. Two decades of attending sporting events in a professional capacity have hardened me, to the extent that I thought nothing can move me.

No comments: