Robert Lewandowski scored twice against former club Dortmund as Barcelona stormed to victory in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie on Wednesday, April 9.
Barcelona will take a four-goal advantage to Dortmund next Tuesday after an exceptional attacking performance inspired a memorable victory at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
Barcelona took control almost immediately, dominating possession and forcing Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel into early action.
All before ten minutes had passed, Lamine Yamal saw a curling effort saved and fizzed another wide after a sensational piece of skill while Robert Lewandowski, once the man Dortmund looked to for their goals, had a powerful effort tipped over the bar.
The hosts finally made their pressure pay in the 25th minute, Raphinha sliding in to nudge Pau Cubarsí’s flick over the line after Iñigo Martínez had headed Fermín López’s free-kick back across goal, though Dortmund came close to levelling the score on the brink of half-time – Serhou Guirassy’s powerful effort flying just wide of the right post.
Having survived that Dortmund pressure late in the first half, Barcelona resumed their dominant form as the second half kicked off and quickly had their reward through a goal involving all their fearsome front three.
First it was Yamal, delivering a delicate cross from the right, then it was Raphinha, leaping to head the ball back across goal, and finally it was Lewandowski, nodding in from close range.
Unrelenting, the hosts continued to threaten, Fermín López striking the woodwork and seeing another promising effort blocked.
The 21-year-old showed the requisite precision as a provider, though, supplying the pinpoint pass that Lewandowski finished in typically emphatic fashion to complete a sweeping team move in the 66th minute.
Another flowing counterattack then increased the Barcelona lead to four, Yamal poking in confidently after running on to Raphinha’s through ball.
PlayStation® Player of the Match: Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
“The striker scored twice and started the move for his side’s third, as well as constantly working hard and pressing well” -UEFA Technical Observer Group.
Reaction
Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona forward:
“Lamine [Yamal], Raphinha and I are working well on and off the pitch. We’ve got four big steps left in this competition. I’ve got 99 goals now for Barcelona and I’m pleased with that. But we all need to work as a team, strikers included. That makes everything easier to achieve.”
What’s next?
*The second leg takes place in Dortmund on Tuesday 15 April.
*Whoever comes through this tie will face the winners of the Bayern vs Inter tie in the semi-finals. First leg on Tuesday, April 8, ended Bayern 1 Inter 2.
Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 Aston Villa: French champions secure stylish comeback win
A trio of stunning strikes from Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Nuno Mendes earned a comeback success for Paris after Aston Villa stunned the Parc des Princes with Morgan Rogers’ 35th-minute opener.
Paris, fresh from sealing the Ligue 1 title on Saturday, restored Ousmane Dembélé to their attack and it was their top scorer who stung the palms of visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez early on.
Villa rode out that early Parisian pressure but allowed Vitinha too much space on the edge of the box midway through the opening half, the Portuguese international sending a right-footed curler narrowly too high.
The opening goal was surely coming but very few would have predicted it would come with the first meaningful attack from the Premier League visitors. Captain John McGinn won possession just inside the Villa half before spraying the ball out wide for Marcus Rashford who, in turn, fed Youri Tielemans on the overlap. The Belgian midfielder’s low cross dissected the home defence, allowing the unmarked Morgan Rogers to power into the net from close range.
Fearing a repeat of Paris’ dominance in their Round of 16 home loss to Liverpool, those of a home persuasion were quickly relieved as their team drew level in under five minutes. When Désiré Doué’s awkward low effort almost crept in via the post, forcing Martínez to claw it off the line, Paris made the resulting corner count. They worked the ball from the right all the way out to Doué on the edge of the area to the left of goal, the 19-year-old shifting possession into a shooting position and unleashing a gorgeous curling effort into the top corner.
Les Rouge-et-Bleu, who racked up 15 attempts in the first period, continued in the same vein after the interval and took just over three minutes after the restart to take the lead with another spectacular strike.
In almost a carbon copy of the flowing counter that brought Villa the opener, Paris forced a turnover in their own half before streaming forward thanks to Fabián Ruiz’s sweeping ball out to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in space on the left. His driving run took him to the edge of the area, before a piece of trickery bamboozled Axel Disasi, giving the Georgian winger the space to power a left-footed thunderbolt high into the roof of the net.
Both teams went in search of further goals, stand-in home skipper Achraf Hakimi bringing the best out of Martínez with a crisp drive, and Rogers unable to beat Gianluigi Donnarumma after latching on to McGinn’s pass.
Just as former Paris coach Unai Emery appeared to be heading back to England with a narrow first-leg deficit to overturn, his old team extended their lead with a third finely-crafted goal of the night. Some patient passing just inside Villa territory suddenly upped a gear with Dembélé’s defence-splitting through ball picking out Nuno Mendes, who cut inside with a deft feint to force Martínez and Ezri Konsa into committing before lofting the ball into the unguarded net with his right.
PlayStation® Player of the Match: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Paris)
“He worked very hard during the whole game, making himself available and posing the biggest threat. He delighted everyone with a piece of magic for Paris’ second goal, providing a finish that had quality, individual talent and an example of how to pause and control the tempo of the game when an attacker enters the opposition box. Everything he did was with intent and quality, on and off the ball” -UEFA Technical Observer Group.
Reaction
John Atkin, Aston Villa reporter:
“Luis Enrique celebrated and well he might. After 91 minutes, Villa would perhaps have been satisfied following a backs-to-the-wall performance of industrious tenacity and dogged determination. Rogers’ first-half opener was a bit of a lucky punch, and Paris duly picked themselves up and twice picked Villa off either side of half-time. The visitors dug in, and a one-goal deficit looked just reward before Nuno Mendes’ telling late blow. On to Villa Park in six days; stranger things have happened.”
What’s next?
*The second leg takes place in Birmingham on Tuesday 15 April.
*Whoever comes through this tie will face the winners of the Arsenal vs Real Madrid tie in the semi-finals. First leg ended Arsenal 3 Madrid 0.
*Culled from uefa.com
