Barcelona Thrashed 4-0 By Psg In Champions League Huge Defeat
BEVERLY HILLS, February 15, (THEWILL) – Barcelona are on the verge of failing to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2007 after a humiliating 4-0 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain.
The manner of the defeat has sent shockwaves through Spain as PSG battered Barcelona from start to finish to take a huge advantage into the second leg of their Champions League knockout match.
The game’s stats speak for themselves: PSG had 10 shots on target against just one from Barca, with the French team also collectively covering far more ground (112.1km against 104km) and working harder to win back the ball (46 recoveries against Barca’s 36).
Even Lionel Messi, so often his team’s saviour, was powerless to intervene, failing to touch the ball inside the PSG penalty box once.
Argentine winger Di Maria celebrated his 29th birthday in style, opening the scoring by rifling in an 18th-minute free kick and then skipping past two weak challenges before curling in a superb second from 25 metres out, 10 minutes after the break.
Germany winger Julian Draxler continued his rich form since joining from Wolfsburg, smacking in the second goal late in the first half.
Top scorer Edinson Cavani, also celebrating his birthday, emphatically drilled home the fourth in the 72nd minute – his 34th goal of a rampant season.
This is the fourth time Barca have been beaten 4-0 in the Champions League and no team has ever overturned a deficit of four or more goals to progress in the Champions League knockout stages.
Barca’s biggest Champions League defeats are 4-0 v AC Milian (Final – 18 May 1994); 4-0 v Dynamo Kiev (Group stage – 5 Nov 1997); 4-0 v Bayern Munich (Semi-final, first leg – 23 April 2013); 4-0 v PSG (Last 16 – 14 February 2017).
In the other tie of the night, Benfica beat a misfiring Borussia Dortmund 1-0 in the first leg in Lisbon, thanks to forward Kostas Mitroglou’s 13th goal in his last 13 games.
Greece international Mitroglou flicked the ball into the net to open the scoring in the 48th minute as Benfica, who have now not conceded a goal at home for 383 minutes, prevented the competition’s best attack from scoring.
Dortmund, who had netted a record 21 times in the group stage, missed a second-half penalty through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who also squandered several other scoring chances on a night to forget for the Gabon striker.
On Wednesday , Arsenal resume their rivalry with Bayern Munich, hoping for a different outcome this time, and defending champions Real Madrid host Napoli.
The four remaining last-16 first legs take place next week As Bayer Leverkusen hosts Atletico Madrid and Manchester City host Monaco on Tuesday, 21 February while FC Porto v Juventus and Sevilla v Leicester is billed for Wednesday, 2 February.