On a dramatic Tuesday evening at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Paris St-Germain defeated Barcelona 4-1. The referee was criticized for his “disaster performance,” Barcelona’s players were criticized for their “panic,” and there was also an unwarranted expulsion.
After Barcelona center-back Ronald Araujo was sent off, PSG overcame a 3-2 deficit in the first leg to win the match 6-4 on aggregate in their Champions League quarterfinal.
Barcelona lost the match due to goals from Ousmane Dembele, a long-range effort from Vitinha, and a brace from Kylian Mbappe, who scored twice against his old team.
Referee Istvan Kovacs had a busy evening as Barcelona produced a performance rife with errors. The Romanian sent the home team three red cards, causing manager Xavi to lose his cool. A member of his coaching staff was then fired for disobedience. The early first-half challenge by Araujo on Bradley Barcola, which led to a red card, was made worse by this.
“What an awful job the referee did. I informed him that his performance was appalling. Although Xavi dislikes discussing referees, he told Movistar Plus that they had a noticeable impact on the season.