Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund are the first two teams to punch their ticket for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in the 2023-24 season. PSG eliminated Barcelona after a 4-1 away win, while Dortmund got the better of Atletico Madrid with a 4-2 win at their Signal Iduna Park.
PSG and Borussia will face each other in the next stage and look for a chance to advance to the Finals, which is being played at Wembley Stadium on June 1. PSG has never won the competition, while Borussia has one UCL trophy from 1996–97.
Paris Saint-Germain entered the second leg match against Barca chasing a one-goal deficit after the first leg finished with a 3-2 win for the La Liga side. This didn’t look well for the French club early on, as Raphina gave Barca the lead in the 12th minute, but momentum shifted their way after Barcelona’s defender Ronald Araujo received a direct card in the 29th minute for bringing down Bradley Barcola in a clear goal chance opportunity.
PSG took advantage of having an extra man as Ousmane Dembélé scored an equalizer against his former club before the halftime whistle. Vitinha made it 2-1 for the Ligue 1 giants in the 54th minute before star forward Kylian Mbappe scored twice in the 61st and 89th minute to set the final score of 4-1.
Borussia Dortmund found itself in a similar situation as PSG, having suffered a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in the first match. The German club played much better this time around, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the first half thanks to goals by Julian Brandt and Ian Maatsen.
Atletico ended up responding in the early second half thanks to Mats Hummels’ own goal and a strike by forward Ángel Correa. However, they couldn’t keep the momentum going, as Borussia restored its two-goal lead in quick succession via striker Niclas Füllkrug in the 71st minute and midfielder Marcel Sabitzer in the 74th minute and secured a big win.
