Barcelona entered the second leg of the quarter-final with a huge advantage after winning 3-2 in the first leg. Their chances increased when Raphinha scored to help Barca lead 1-0. But in the 29th minute, Romania referee Istvan Kovacs showed a red card to centre-back Ronald Araujo after a foul on Bradley Barcola. With one less player, Barcelona lost 1-4 and suffered a 4-6 defeat in the end, being eliminated in the quarter-finals.
We are very upset with this defeat. We have organized a good squad with 11 players in 11. But Araujo's red card changed everything. For me, chasing Araujo is too much.
The referee is so bad. I told him he was a disaster. He ruined the game. I don't like to talk about referees but I have to. With only 10 players left, the match moved in a different direction, Xavi said after the match.
Even coach Xavi was sent off in the 56th minute, lost when he objected to the referee's decision, in a situation where Marquinhos had a dispute with Gundogan. In addition, goalkeeper coach Jose Ramon de la Fuente was also sent off at Barca for overreactions.
Xavi told them: "We had an equalizer when Gundogan shot against the post and could even increase the score to 2-0 before receiving a red card with a shot from Robert Lewandowski. It is a pity that the efforts of an entire season end just because of a referee's decision."
Meanwhile, PSG coach Luis Enrique said he believes his team will advance to the semi-finals even if Araujo stays on the field.
Luis Enrique is a Barcelona legend, having played and led Barcelona to three LaLiga, Copa del Rey and Champions League appearances in 2015.
He also led Barca when they came back against PSG by beating them 6-1 (losing 0-4 in the first leg) in 2017.
Luis Enrique refused to compare the feeling of coming back from behind to lead Barca and PSG. The best feeling in football is to make the fans happy, he said. That is incomparable. It was difficult to play against Barca, in terms of affection and emotion. I hope I don't have to face them many times in my career."
After this match, Barcelona will go to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in El Clasico. A victory will help Barca have little hope to overcome their opponents. At the moment, Barca is 8 points behind Real and La Liga has only 7 more rounds left.
Meanwhile, PSG are aiming for a treble. In Ligue 1, they are 10 points ahead of the second-placed team and have reached the French Cup final.
