Champions League quarter-finals: Live scores, team news and updates as Raphinha fires Barcelona in front against PSG in Paris… while Atletico Madrid lead Dortmund 2-0

Pete Jensen, Mail Sport:

It was coming. Donnarumma just one mistake after another coming for balls with no or little hope of getting them. Barcelona deserve the lead.

First blood to the visitors!

Raphinha has his first Champions League goal, and they won’t come much easier than that one.

Lamine Yamal whips in a troubling ball with the outside of his foot and Gianluigi Donnarumma doesn’t deal with it.

The Italian keeper palms it straight to Raphinha to swipe into the net.

Trouble in Paris for the French Champions!

Atletico’s dream start gets even better!

Lino doubles the home sides advantage, finishing off a lovely move after Antoine Griezmann slid him in.

Borussia Dortmund have it all to do now!

PSG are looking a bit uncertain at the back.

Robert Lewandowski whips in a lovely ball that should easily be cleared by the defence, but Lucas Hernandez and Marquinhos both go for it and it leads to a corner.

Nothing comes from it though, a let-off.

Oooooh, Joao Cancelo…

The former Man City flies in on Kylian Mbappe with a high challenge to leave the PSG forward in a heap on the floor. VAR checks for a red card but quickly waves it away.

Moments before that Lee Kang-In stung the palms of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen with a decent effort.

This game is starting to get going now.

Barcelona have got their tails up now, they are on top.

Raphinha has looked their most positive outlet and he has just forced Gianluigi Donnarumma into a strong low save from distance.

PSG just haven’t arrived in this match yet.

It’s come alive!

Barcelona are inches from taking the lead through Robert Lewandowski as he gets his head to a corner ahead of Gianluigi Donnarumma, but Nuno Mendes is there to hook it off the line.

Lamine Yamal then follows up and fires just wide.

That’s the first real chance for the visitors and it was nearly a brilliant one.

I did say when I say games haven’t got much going on, suddenly it changes…

Oh Lamine Yamal, stop it.

Yamal dances around a couple of PSG players before getting wiped out at the end of it.

That boy has skills, that’s for sure.

I hope this game starts to kick on soon.

Not much has changed in the way of chances at the Parc des Princes, defences are coming out on top in this cagey affair.

The game might not be as fantastic as I hoped, but the crowd are keeping me entertained.

Normally when I post like this, a goal comes…

Marco Asensio knows what it takes to beat Barcelona from his days at Real Madrid.

Well, he has just had a pop, but it goes straight into the hands of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Other than the Raphinha chance, not too much to report from the Parc des Princes so far.

Neither side has got going.

Pete Jensen, Mail Sport:

If Raphinha really goes for that then Donnarumma fouls him and Barça are playing ten men for the rest of the night.

Well, just as Atletico scored Barcelona nearly took the lead.

Only a brilliant tackle from Gianluigi Donnarumma, as he rushed out of his area, prevented Raphinha from nipping it around him to put into an empty net.

It was either a fantastic tackle or luck. I can’t decide.

Borussia Dortmund what are you doing?

The German side are the architects of their own downfall as they give the ball away at the back and Rodrigo De Paul punishes them from inside the area.

A brilliant start for Atletico and the Metropolitano erupts!

The first chance of the night falls to Kylian Mbappe but he can’t convert it.

The Frenchman pokes wide from a tough angle, would have been a cracker if he scored.

PSG fans really like to make a racket, don’t they?

The Parc des Princes is like a cauldron right now, they are really up for this, it can’t be easy to be a visiting player right now.

Surely Barcelona’s plan will be to ride out the early moments and frustrate the crowd.

Right, the ball is rolling in both Paris and Madrid.

Which two of the four heavyweights involved tonight will come out the happier?

I just hope it’s as fun as last night!

I did not expect to see a big banner of Yoda tonight…

The Parc des Princes is looking intimidating and the French Champions will be looking to light up the ground like a lightsaber tonight.

The music is playing, the atmosphere is at boiling point, it’s going to be a cracker!

Ousmane Dembele has been a player reborn since moving back to his home country of France.

Many believed the winger disappointed during his time at Barcelona, but the same can’t be said about his time in Paris.

While he only has 14 goal involvements, Dembele has offered so much more to a side people are dubbing PSG 2.0.

Can he cause havoc against his former side tonight?

Lamine Yamal, wow. That’s all that’s needed.

The 16-year-old made his debut for Barcelona at just 15 years old and has already made 40 appearances for Barca this season alone.

The teen is also already a Spain international and is bamboozling defences all over the world.

Watch out for this young star tonight, he is sensational!

Look who has rocked up at the Parc des Princes!

Ronaldinho, a Champions League winner with Barcelona, also spent two years at PSG before his move to Spain.

Oh how I miss watching him play, it brought me pure joy!

Well, the PSG lads are looking sharp tonight.

I didn’t realise it was dress to impress in Paris, I’m used to seeing teams walk into a stadium in tracksuits.

Time will tell if these players will have the same swagger on the pitch as they do entering the stadium.

It’s expected that Kylian Mbappe will be leaving PSG at the end of the season to move to Barcelona’s bitter rivals, Real Madrid.

Mbappe is the heir to Lionel Messi’s throne and has already won the World Cup among many other domestic titles.

However, he is yet to win the Champions League. The Frenchman came close with PSG in 2020, but it wasn’t to be.

Can he cap off his seven years in the French capital with European glory?

Pete Jensen, Mail Sport:

Massive boost for Barcelona that Frenkie de Jong returns from injury to start in midfield for the first time since the beginning of March. And a big surprise that Luis Enrique leaves Warren Zaïre-Emery on the bench and plays with an extra attacker in Marco Asensio.

Barcelona will be pleased to see Frenkie de Jong back on the teamsheet.

The Dutch midfielder has missed the past month with an ankle injury but is deemed fit to start upon his return to the squad.

Pedri also returns but is named on the bench.

Both are a huge boost for Xavi this evening!

Pete Jensen, Mail Sport:

No love lost between Barcelona and PSG after years of squabbles over players. Barça hated losing Neymar to the French. And PSG’s Qatari owners never much liked the manner in which Barcelona ditched their Qatar Foundation sponsorship.

Paris supporters have also never forgotten that amazing comeback in 2017 with the help of what they saw as some dubious refereeing decisions. First appearance of Barcelona players out on the pitch greeted with chants of F*cking Barça! From PSG ultras inside the stadium. 

Xavi has not made anywhere near as many changes, he has gone with just the two.

Frankie de Jong is one of those, returning from a month lay-off with injury.

Ronald Araujo comes in at the back as the other change. His partner at the back has broken a Champions League record tonight.

He is 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi, and he becomes the youngest defender to start a Champions League quarter-final ever.

This is a strong side!

Luis Enrique is pulling no punches, the former Barcelona manager has made 10 changes from their 1-1 draw with Clermont in Ligue 1.

Marco Asensio is the only player who remains in the starting 11.

Jadon Sancho starts for Borussia Dortmund.

The German side have made only one change to the side that lost 1-0 to Stuttgart at the weekend.

Felix Nmecha replaces Julian Brandt in midfield, while Marco Reus remains on the bench.

I love this graphic, more teams should provide their formation. Although Diego Simeone’s is easy to predict.

Simeone has made five changes with Alvaro Morata coming in to replace the injured Memphis Depay.

It may still be over an hour until kick-off, but Atletico fans are already making themselves heard in Madrid.

The Wanda Metropolitano can be a loud place when it wants to be, so those Borussia Dortmund players better be prepared.

The chants are already starting!

Cast your minds back to 2006.

Barcelona arrived in the city of love with three European cups to their name, but they left with four.

After goals from Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti saw Barcelona come from behind against Arsenal, Carles Puyol lifted the Champions League trophy above his head in the Stade de France.

It may be a different stadium, but the city holds a lot of memories for the Barcelona fans.

They’ll be hoping for some more to be made this evening.

If you read the last post, and the article with it, this next part will interest you even further.

Luis Enrique was in charge the last time Barcelona claimed their hands on ‘big ears’ back in 2015, and after all his time as a player and then manager at the club, the connection is still there.

When questioned about his time at the club and if his style is better suited at the Nou Camp than current boss Xavi’s, his response was pretty clear.

Without a doubt, it’s me. It’s not an opinion, look at the statistics, in terms of possession, chances, pressing, trophies… Others might have a different opinion, but it’s definitely me. My love story with Barcelona goes back many years, but my profession comes first.

They couldn’t, could they?

Barcelona were not having the best time of it when Xavi announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season, but a lot has changed.

Barca have been in blistering form ever since and are on an 11-match unbeaten run following the news.

Suddenly, there are now question marks over whether Xavi really will leave. Will Barcelona give him a second chance if they win tonight?

Read what Pete Jensen, Mail Sport, had to say about it all:

Robert Lewandowksi loves a goal in the Champions League.

The Polish striker has netted a total of 94 times in the competition, putting him third behind Lionel Messi, and the top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo. Not bad names to be alongside.

I’m sure Lewandowski would love to get to the 100 mark eventually, can he get closer to achieving that tonight?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see his name on the scoresheet, that’s for sure.

Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid boss, speaking to the press:

They [Borussia Dortmund] have a lot of good qualities. They are the hardest opponent. They’ve not lost away from home in four months, and they are great on the counter-attack. They are very strong in both boxes, and they are the most intense team in the last eight of the competition.

Barcelona are on the move.

Kick-off is still over 90 minutes away, but Barcelona are already on their way to the Parc des Princes.

We will find out their team news in less than 40 minutes, which 11 will Xavi field today?

Where I am in London, it’s grey, grim and windy. The same cannot be said about Paris.

The glorious sunshine is beating down on the Parc des Princes, but soon night will fall and the football will begin.

Let’s hope the football displayed tonight is as beautiful as these photos!

This game was iconic.

There are few moments in your life that you can visualise where you were on the day a major event happened, and this is one of the few in mine.

It was a day neither Barcelona nor PSG fans will ever forget – for different reasons – the comeback of all comebacks. Euphoria for the Catalonians, despair for the Parisians.

In 2016-17, Barcelona, managed by the current PSG boss Luis Enrique, needed to overturn a 4-0 deficit from the first leg in Paris.

What unfolded in the second leg at the Nou Camp is perhaps the greatest comeback in the history of the sport (please, don’t have a go at me Liverpool fans).

The five-time winners went three goals to the good after 50 minutes, and the unthinkable was in reach, however, Edinson Cavani seemingly ended those hopes by making it 3-1 with just under half an hour to go.

Then, chaos ensued. With hope all but gone, Barcelona netted three goals after the 88th minute, including a 95th-minute winner from Sergi Roberto to complete the unimaginable.

If we get anything close to a tie like that this year, we are in for one hell of a ride.

Security will be increased tonight at both the Parc des Princes and Wanda Metropolitano, such as they were at the Emirates and the Bernabeu last night after an ISIS media outlet shared a post on social media with a threat towards all stadiums hosting Champions League quarter-final first legs.

Spanish and French ministers have also revealed security will be stepped up with both games going ahead as planned.

According to L’Equipe, the elite counter-terrorism force the BRI (Research and Intervention Brigade) will have police officers in the ‘immediate vicinity’ of the Parc des Princes for PSG v Barcelona.

In Spain, the Head of The Ministry of the Interior, Fernando Grand-Marlaska, said on Tuesday morning: ‘In terms of preventing the terrorist threat, the State Security Forces and Bodies have activated all their early warning and protection systems, as well as all their response mechanisms ready and willing.’

You know what they say, always the bridesmaid, never the bride (thank you to my colleague Tum Balogun for this one).

Well, I guess it’s not strictly true with Borussia Dortmund who won the European Cup in 1997, but they have felt the pain of second place a lot.

Over the last decade and slightly more, both sides have come up short in a Champions League final a combined three times.

Both sides disrupted the apple cart in their domestic leagues in the early 2010s.

Dortmund put a stop to Bayern Munich’s stranglehold on the Bundesliga winning two consecutive titles under the stewardship of Jurgen Klopp in 2010 and 2011. Meanwhile, Diego Simeone drove his Atletico side to become the first club other than Barcelona or Real Madrid to conquer La Liga in a decade.

Now the two nearly men (teams) of the Champions League era will battle it out in a quarter-final. Atletico haven’t reached a semi-final since 2016-17, while Dortmund haven’t since 2012-13.

Well, one of them will this season, and that journey continues tonight.

PSG v Barcelona has given us some games to remember in years gone by. I’ll be going into more detail in regard to one later, so don’t worry.

Tonight will be the sixth time these two sides have met in 12 years with the French Champions coming out on top in their last two meetings three years ago in the round of 16.

Tonight, the two sides will add another chapter to their story as they face off at the Parc des Princes, but it will be very different from those of the past.

Luis Enrique is in the opposite dugout, Ousmane Dembele has swapped sides, and there will be no Lionel Messi or Neymar involved.

When these two meet, there are normally fireworks!

I knew you’d all be back tonight!

Well, we have a great night in store for you because one thing is for certain, the Champions League is stacked with top teams this season.

Today’s four teams have a tough act to follow, as last night’s Champions League action was simply thrilling. We want more of that tonight.

PSG and Barcelona renew their European rivalry this evening, with the added spice of the French champions’ boss Luis Enrique reuniting with his former employers.

Meanwhile, Madrid is the host of more action tonight as Atletico face off against Borussia Dortmund. Will Spain’s capital city provide another exceptional game such as last night’s – I hope so.

This stage of Europe’s premier football competition never disappoints, so sit back, grab a drink, and enjoy watching some of the world’s best teams battle it out.

Fun, fun, fun… here we come (a play on words for all the Beatles lovers out there)!