Champions League: Raphinha, Christensen Give Barcelona Slim Advantage Over PSG

• As Blaugrana win 3-2 at Parc des Princes
• Atletico Madrid 2 – 1 Borussia Dortmund

On an enthralling, frantic night at the Parc des Princes, Brazilian winger Raphinha bagged a brace to complete a comeback win for FC Barcelona in the Champions League thriller with host side, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Besides the skillful controls, captivating patterns, and dogged fight for pace, the encounter produced a game that felt the opposite of the “Barca DNA” Xavi spoke about building up to this quarter-final first-leg pairing.

And in leaving his impressive imprints in Paris, Raphinha and super-subs Pedri and Andreas Christensen were on song with superlative display to help turn around the first leg and gift the Blaugrana the much-needed quarter-final breather in the French capital.

The hero on the night, Raphinha scored twice against Paris Saint-Germain to complete an enthralling comeback and help the Blaugrana take a 3-2 lead home for the second leg of their quarter-final tie.

Barca had the best chance early on when Nuno Mendes hooked Robert Lewandowski’s header off the line. However, they eventually took the lead after 38 minutes, as Raphinha turned home after a fine piece of setup play from Lewandowski.

PSG came alive after the break, though. Former Barca winger Ousmane Dembele battered home an equaliser after 48 minutes, and 133 seconds later, Vitinha put the Parisians ahead with a fine run and finish.

The Parisians were still celebrating the sudden turn of events that saw them taking the lead when Barca responded well as substitute Pedri provided a delightful dink over the Parisian backline for Raphinha to volley into the bottom corner to level the contest.

Andreas Christensen then put his side back ahead, nodding home past a static Gianluigi Donnarumma with his first touch of the game. In the end, Barcelona hung on and did enough to deserve their 3-2 lead heading back to Camp Nou for the second leg and pundits are already predicting that the game is still wide open because it is the ‘first half’ has just ended with the second half to come in six days, on Tuesday 16 April.

It’s Atletico 2 – 1 Dortmund

In the other match of the day, a cracking second half from the German side, Borussia Dortmund was not enough to stop them from losing by two goals to one against hosts, Atletico Madrid

Simeone’s side looked like a well-oiled machine right from the word go as they dominated proceeding for the majority of the clash and deservedly went ahead courtesy of Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino’s first-half strikes.

The German visitors were poor in the first half and could not lay a glove on Atletico but they came back strong after the break and deserved to pull a goal back. With this result, Dortmund have plenty to do in the second leg but they still have a chance to progress against the Spanish La Liga side