Barcelona, PSG reach UCL semifinals

Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. Despite losing in the second leg of the quarterfinals, both teams advanced thanks to big wins in the first leg.

In the second leg on Tuesday night, Barcelona lost 3-1 away to German club Borussia Dortmund. However, since they had won the first leg 4-0, the total score over two legs was 5-3, and the Catalan club reached the semifinals for the first time in six years.

At Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund took the lead in the 11th minute with a penalty goal by Serhou Guirassy. Then in the 49th minute, Guirassy scored again with a header from a header pass by Ramy Bensebaini. In the 53rd minute, Barcelona got one back through an own goal by a Dortmund defender who accidentally sent the ball into his own net while trying to clear Fermín López’s pass. Guirassy completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute. Despite trying to equalize, Dortmund could not succeed. This was Barcelona’s first loss in 24 matches across all competitions. On the other hand, PSG lost 3-2 to English club Aston Villa at Villa Park. But since PSG had won the first leg 3-1, they advanced to the semifinals with a 5-4 aggregate score.

PSG took an early lead in the match. Achraf Hakimi scored in the 11th minute, and Nuno Mendes added another in the 27th minute to make it 2-0. Aston Villa came back in the 34th minute when a shot from Youri Tielemans deflected off a PSG defender into the net. John McGinn scored the second goal in the 55th minute, and Ezri Konsa scored the third from a cut-back pass by Marcus Rashford.

Even though Aston Villa closed the gap to just one goal, PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made some brilliant saves. In the final moments, he stopped clear chances from Tielemans and Marco Asensio, playing a key role in helping PSG reach the semifinals.

The Champions League semifinal matches will take place on April 29.