PSG and Liverpool Advance to Champions League Quarterfinals

Mohamed Salah of Liverpool in 2018
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool in 2018. Photo by Dave Shopland/BPI/REX/Shutterstock (9664179bn)

Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool are through to the Champions League quarterfinals after eliminating Barcelona and RB Leipzig, respectively, on Wednesday night. They will join Porto and Borussia Dortmund, who punched their tickets for the next round the day before.

PSG hosted Barcelona at their Parc des Princes stadium after beating the La Liga side 4-1 in the 1st leg. While the French club were overwhelming favorites to advance, nothing was certain considering that Barca overturned 0-4 against them back in 2017.

Barca was the better side to start the game, creating several good chances, but PSG scored first. Mauro Icardi was taken down in the penalty area, and Kylian Mbappe coolly converted the kick to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Catalan club didn’t take long to respond, with Leo Messi delivering a stunning goal to make the score 1-1 in the 37th minute.

The second half didn’t offer the excitement everyone hoped for, as the two sides remained scoreless. Barcelona attempted to make it interesting, but Paris defended well and managed to keep their sheet clean for the rest of the game.

The match between Liverpool and RB Leipzig offered a thrilling showdown as well, even though the home side had a 2-0 advantage. The Reds were going through a full-blown crisis, having lost six out of their seven last Premier League games, and Leipzig’s high-octane attack gave the Germans a feeling that they could turn things around.

Once the game kicked off, however, it was Liverpool who was dominating the game. The English club had better chances in the first half, while Leipzig struggled with creativity.

The sides were scoreless until the 70th minute when Mohammed Salah’s well-placed shot from the top of the key ended behind Peter Gulacsi. Several minutes later, Sadio Mane made it 2-0 thanks to a great cross from Divock Origi.

The UEFA Champions League resumes next week with the remaining 2nd leg matches of Round of 16.

Jasmin can write about almost everything expect about himself. All you need to know is that he likes music, Nutella stuffed pancakes and sleeping till noon on Sundays.