This is the true story about Barcelona's comeback against PSG in the second leg of the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00They didn't score a single goal and they lost the game 4-0.
00:03It's not Barcelona's night.
00:05It was an embarrassing performance, and it became even stranger when their coach
00:09spoke at the post-game press conference with an absurd amount of confidence in his failing team.
00:13If a rival is capable of scoring four goals against us,
00:16then we're capable of scoring six against them.
00:18Many people laughed at his apparent disconnection from reality.
00:22See, in the UEFA Knockout stage, each team plays against each other twice,
00:26one match at each home stadium.
00:27And the total score across the two matches determines which team advances to the next round.
00:33No team had ever overturned a 4-0 first match deficit
00:37in the history of the UEFA Champions League.
00:39It just wasn't something that happened.
00:41So when Barcelona and PSG returned to Camp Nou, Barcelona's home ground,
00:45the crowd was hopeful but prepared for what was likely to be the
00:48end of Barcelona's chances to progress to the quarterfinals.
00:51Well, if Paris Saint-Germain don't go through to the quarterfinals tonight,
00:55this is a match we'll be talking about for quite some time.
00:59It would take an historic Champions League comeback to deny Paris Saint-Germain.
01:04However, two minutes into the second match,
01:06it was clear that Barcelona weren't about to go down without a fight.
01:10They had quickly scored the first goal of the game and the home crowd boomed with support.
01:14But after that first goal, it was hard to get anything else to pay off.
01:18Until, right before half-time, they got another.
01:21And then, as they entered the second half of the match, they scored a third.
01:29Barcelona were only one goal away from potentially
01:32ending the game in an aggregate tie, which would force extra time,
01:36allowing them another 30 minutes to make a fifth goal happen and secure victory.
01:41But PSG weren't going to let that happen.
01:48This wasn't just any goal.
01:49It was an away goal.
01:50And in UEFA's rules, if the aggregate score ends in a tie,
01:54the team with more away goals advances to the next round.
01:57So now, extra time was no longer an option.
02:00Barcelona weren't just chasing one goal anymore.
02:02They now needed three goals in 20 minutes.
02:05That certainly wasn't unheard of, but it was going to be a challenge.
02:08However, as the game came down to its final minutes,
02:13Neymar continued desperately fighting against the odds.
02:21The aggregate score was now 5-0, and there were only a few minutes left in the game.
02:26If Barcelona was going to move on to the quarterfinals,
02:28they were going to have to make something happen right now.
02:32The ball came back out to Neymar, he lined up the shot,
02:35and he chipped it, softly, over the defence, towards the goalkeeper.
02:42For Sergi Roberto to score the final goal.
02:46The home crowd cried tears of happiness,
02:48and Barcelona made it through to the quarterfinals.