Barcelona crashed out of Europe on Wednesday night, drawing the second leg of their Champions League last 16 second leg with Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 after losing the first 4-1 at Camp Nou.
Joan Laporta, the man recently elected Barcelona president, spoke with Diario Sport after the game about the elimination. “We have a team,” he said. “They’re a source of pride. We’ve defended with dignity, we deserved to win and we deserved to progress.”
Laporta won the elections last Sunday but is not yet formally the president of Barcelona as he has to present the bank guarantees for La Liga to validate his election. Despite this, Carles Tusquets, current president of the Managing Board, invited Laporta and his team to Paris for the game.
Barcelona had started well, peppering Keylor Navas in the PSG goal in pursuit of that crucial opener. Kylian Mbappe was the one who opened the scoring, however, converting a penalty kick on the stroke of the half hour mark to put PSG into an early lead.
Barcelona struck back through a Lionel Messi golazo, the Argentine unleashing a powerful effort past Navas and into the top-left corner of the net. Messi had the chance to make it 2-1 just before half-time, but his penalty was tipped on to the bar by Navas and kept out. It was a moment that would prove decisive in both the tie and Barcelona’s European campaign.
