A fine night for the visitors as Barcelona were thrashed at the Camp Nou by Paris St Germain 1-4 with an Mbappe hat trick making it a monumental task for Barcelona in the 2nd leg to overturn the deficit.
A bright start to the game saw both sides have their chances when Griezmann had his effort denied by Navas while Icardi’s shot was cleared off the line.
It was not until the 27th Minute when Barcelona was awarded a penalty for Kurzawa’s clumsy trip on De Jong which Messi smashed lashed home to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
The lead did not last long as a well worked out move ended with Mbappe dribbling across the Catalan defend to lash home from close quarters to restore parity.
Marc- Andre ter Stegan was in fine form as he made a string of saves from Kaen and Kurzawa to keep the score the same till half time.
He was called into action yet again in the second half when he denied Kaen. Ter Stegan stood like a rock as support to the back line of Barcelona with a series of magnificent saves. But that did not last long as Florenzi played a cross ball into the box only for Mbappe to finish after a poor clearance from Pique to make it 1-2 to the visitors.
The French side doubled their advantage when Kaen headed home the set piece provided by Paredes. Barcelona’s defense was in tatters as this was a free header to make matters worse.
Barcelona threw men forward to get a goal back and give themselves a slight chance but that was not to be as a deadly counter attack saw Draxler tee up the ball to Mbappe who right footed home to complete the hat trick and formalities as PSG went 1-4 up.
A game presented as a challenge to the French side turned out to be a walk in the park. Barcelona have it all to do in the second leg when they travel to Paris to overturn a 1-4 deficit, which if they do would bring back the memories of 2017 against the very same opposition. Paris St Germain have gotten one foot into the quarter finals this season and will look to seal the deal in three weeks.
