Paris Saint-Germain withstood early pressure from a much-improved but wasteful Barcelona side to draw 1-1 on Wednesday and reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
PSG lead 4-1 from the first leg of their round-of-16 game and moved four goals clear when Kylian Mbappé, who scored a hat trick at Camp Nou, netted with a confident penalty in the 31st minute.
That goal was firmly against the run of play and, after Barca had squandered possession and chances, Lionel Messi equalized in the 37th with a powerful shot from 25 meters that tore into the top left corner.
But the six-time Golden Ball winner then had a penalty saved by goalkeeper Keylor Navas on the stroke of halftime, his first miss from the spot in the Champions League since 2015.
In Budapest, with its Premier League title defence in tatters, Liverpool kept its last chance of a trophy alive by beating Leipzig 2-0 Wednesday to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané scored Liverpool’s goals to complete a 4-0 win on aggregate. Liverpool ended its run of six defeats in home games, at least technically, as Jurgen Klopp’s team was officially the host at the neutral Puskas Arena in Hungary.
Klopp said Liverpool succeeded by forgetting about the collapse of its campaign in England, where the team is 25 points off the league lead.
It is the first time since 2005 that neither Messi nor his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo have reached the last eight of the competition, following Juventus’ exit on Tuesday.
Barcelona dominated the first half and easily could have been ahead at the break – and threatening an unlikely comeback – if not for some very wasteful play from winger Ousmane Dembélé in terms of both sloppy passing and poor finishing.
“We’ve made a good impression here after a terrific performance,” Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann said. “We had lots of chances, we just didn’t take them.”
Barca kept probing in the second half, and Messi had a chance from close range in the 61st but hesitated a split-second before shooting and allowed defender Marquinhos to block his shot with the goal gaping.
“It was a difficult match, Barca played a great game,” Navas said. “They forced us to give everything we had.”
At the same stage of the competition four years ago, Barcelona lost 4-0 in Paris only to win 6-1 at Camp Nou in one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history.
Neymar and Messi tormented PSG that night, but there was to be no reply this time.
Barca’s coach Ronald Koeman made three substitutions for the closing stages, but the visitors’ hopes gradually fizzled out as a cold wind whipped around Parc des Princes.
Koeman selected Frenkie de Jong as a makeshift centre half, but most of the action was at the other end as Barca made a bright start.