Barcelona claimed a scarcely believable Champions League victory against Paris Saint-Germain that will go down in history as one of the all-time great comebacks, Sergi Roberto netting in the fifth minute of stoppage time to seal a sensational 6-5 aggregate triumph after they had trailed 4-0.
It had looked as though Edinson Cavani’s away goal would prove pivotal after Barca had raced into a three-goal lead, but the hosts scored three times from the 88th minute onwards at Camp Nou to complete the biggest turnaround ever seen in the competition.
After being thrashed in the first leg of the last-16 tie, Barca appeared set to fall agonisingly short of a famous recovery in what transpired to be a classic encounter.
Luis Enrique’s side were three goals up within 50 minutes and did not allow Cavani’s intervention to foil their bid for a slice of history, Neymar scoring twice before setting up Roberto in astonishing scenes, the second leg ultimately finishing 6-1.
Two scrappy first-half goals – one from Luis Suarez in the third minute – and a Layvin Kurzawa own goal gave a rocking Camp Nou hope of a reversal in the tie.
The home side reduced the deficit further early in the second half when Lionel Messi scored his 11th goal of the competition this season from the penalty spot after Neymar was fouled by Thomas Meunier.
But a great finish from Cavani just after the hour mark – his eighth of a Champions League campaign that has been his most prolific – seemed to have made the difference, before the late heroics from Neymar and Roberto.
The crushing defeat sees PSG beaten by Barca in the knockout stages again having suffered the same fate in 2013 and 2015.
Barca, meanwhile, reach the quarters for the 10th straight season, meaning they are still in with a chance of a treble in Luis Enrique’s last season at the helm.
Hopes of a remarkable comeback were stirred after only 150 seconds, Suarez getting the goal.
