Joel Richards

The writing was on the wall for the Blaugrana.

A lacklustre performance at the Parc Des Princes was compounded by a 4-0 reversal that was largely dominated by Paris Saint-Germain. A two-goal man of the match display from Angel Di Maria was in stark contrast to the efforts of Barcelona’s famed ‘MSN’ – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar – who were virtually anonymous all night. 

To further compound the misery surrounding Camp Nou, coach Luis Enrique announced his intention to quit at the end of the season. With Real Madrid leading the way in La Liga, all signs pointed towards a bleak end to his three-year spell in charge.

Heading into the return leg, history was against Barcelona. No team had ever overturned a four-goal first leg deficit in the Champions League and having produced a dominant performance, PSG appeared primed to make a statement to the rest of Europe.

But an early goal for the hosts gave hope. Less than three minutes had passed when Luis Suarez headed past Kevin Trapp, before a Layvin Kurzawa own goal five minutes before the break made mission impossible a lot more probable. 

Within five minutes of the restart, another opportunity arose when Neymar was brought down by Thomas Meunier in the box and a penalty was awarded. Lionel Messi converted the spot-kick to put Barcelona 3-0 up and one goal away from parity.

Les Parisiens were reeling. A completely different side to the one that dominated three weeks earlier, Unai Emery’s side created few chances on the counter-attack as they were totally overwhelmed. Against the run of play though, the pendulum swung their way in the 61st minute as Edinson Cavani fired home to all but burst the Barca bubble and surely seal the visitors’ place in the Quarter-Finals.

With the score still 3-1 heading into the final five minutes, any TV viewer who switched off would have been forgiven for thinking this tie was done. But how wrong they and the rest of the watching world was…

A free-kick in the 88th minute was wonderfully curled home from 30 yards by Neymar to offer a brief flicker of hope, even if time and logic was against them. But that flicker grew in the 91st minute when Suarez won the hosts another penalty, albeit in suspicious circumstances. Up stepped Neymar again who sent Trapp the wrong way and ensured a chaotic stoppage time.

Barcelona desperately threw everything at PSG. With Gerard Pique sent forward as an additional attacker and long balls aplenty, a free-kick was won by Messi after a foul from Marco Verratti with only 90 seconds remaining. What happened next could only be likened to a scene from a dramatic movie that happened in slow motion. 

Messi’s initial delivery was poor and cleared by Serge Aurier, only for Neymar to win back possession and beat a man. The future PSG employee then clipped a ball into the box that was met by the onrushing Sergi Roberto, who poked home and completed possibly the greatest-ever comeback in Champions League history. 

From there pandemonium ensued: the final whistle led to Enrique and the whole Barcelona bench sprinting onto the pitch to celebrate with those that had engineered events, as well as their adoring public. Meanwhile, a stunned Emery could only stare ashen-faced into the turf as his side’s shambolic defending contributed to their downfall.

Ultimately though, the Blaugrana journey would end in the last eight at the hands of Juventus, but events on March 9, 2017, still remain fresh in the memory to this day.