It was the third time Paris Saint-Germain faced Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League knockout phases, having lost the two previous encounters in the 2012–13 and the 2014–15 seasons on aggregate.
The second leg was played on 8 March at the Camp Nou in Barcelona. Once again, the two teams came into the match having won their league games, Barcelona 5–0 vs. Celta Vigo and Paris Saint-Germain 1–0 against Nancy. The game had an impressive attendance of 96,290 despite the home side's heavy defeat in the first game. Barcelona's Luis Suárez scored the first goal of the game in the 3rd minute after heading the ball over the line before it was cleared by Thomas Meunier. In the 40th minute, Paris Saint-Germain's Layvin Kurzawa scored an own goal in an attempt to block a shot by Andrés Iniesta. The third goal came in the 50th minute via a penalty scored by Lionel Messi after Neymar was fouled by Thomas Meunier. Barcelona's hopes were seemingly brought down after Edinson Cavani scored Paris Saint-Germain's only goal in the 62nd minute, leaving them requiring three more to win due to the away goals rule now favouring PSG. Neymar scored two goals in the closing stages – a free kick in the 88th minute and a penalty kick in the 91st – to make it 5–1. In the final seconds of the match, Neymar appeared once again to deliver a cross into the penalty area, and Sergi Roberto scored their sixth and final goal in the 95th minute thus winning the game 6–1 and advancing to the quarter finals 6–5 on aggregate; with the outcome described as "astonishing", "incredible", and "a miracle" by the media.
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Post-match
In the aftermath of the tie, amid praise for Barcelona there was also criticism of Paris Saint-Germain for the manner in which they had failed to deal with the pressure of holding on to their aggregate lead, and speculation that the referee could be demoted from his status by the governing body due to some of the decisions he made during the match, particularly the award of Barcelona's second penalty. In the quarter-finals, Barcelona again suffered a heavy defeat in the first leg of the tie away from home, this time losing 3–0 to Juventus. However, they were unable to repeat their performance of the previous round and were eliminated after drawing 0–0 in the return leg. One of the tie's main protagonists, Brazilian forward Neymar, was at the centre of a different matter involving the two clubs in August 2017 when he moved from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record transfer fee. It was suggested by journalists that one reason for his desire to leave Barcelona was because much of the attention following the comeback win over PSG was directed towards teammate Lionel Messi despite Neymar's pivotal role.
Similar results in subsequent seasons
In the following season's competition, it was Barcelona who experienced an unexpected comeback defeat, losing 3–0 to Roma in Italy at the quarter-final stage and going out on away goals, despite having held a strong 4–1 advantage from the home leg of the tie. For their part, Paris Saint-Germain bowed out at the Round of 16 stage again, despite adding Neymar and others to their squad and winning their group, losing to the eventual winners, Barcelona's arch-rivalsReal Madrid. In the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League Round of 16, Paris Saint-Germain – without the injured Neymar – were the losing team in another significant comeback, as an under-strength Manchester United side won 3–1 at the Parc des Princes having lost 2–0 at Old Trafford, the first time in the history of the competition that such a deficit from a home first leg had been overcome. In the semi-finals, Barcelona were eliminated after another second-leg collapse: holding a 3–0 advantage from the Camp Nou, at Anfield they conceded four goals without reply to Liverpool, who went on to win the competition.
