Xavi Hernandez And Diego Simeone Reacts To Barcelona and Atletico's Champions League ELIMINATION By PSG And Dortmund.

 It was a nightmare for two Spanish giants Barcelona and Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, as they were both knocked-out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund respectively.

Despite both La Liga teams coming into the second leg with a goal advantage, they couldn't sustain the pressure of maintaining their lead from the first leg games last week.

Barcelona had won away 3-2 againt PSG at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, while Atletico Madrid handed Dortmund a 2-1 defeat at the Westfalenstadion.

It happened that Luis Enrique returned to his former club Barcelona to knock the Catalans out of the Champions League as Kylian Mbappe inspired PSG to a pulsating 4-1 victory, winning 6-4 on aggregate and advance to the semi-finals for the fourth time in their history where they would face Bundesliga side Dortmund for a place in Wembley's final.

PSG had to come from behind to overcome their rivals despite still going 1-0 down earlier in the game on Tuesday night at the Estadio Olimpico de Montjuic.

Barca got off to the perfect start, When Raphinha moved in front of Achraf Hakimi to meet Yamal's inviting cross and opened the scoring in the 12th minute to make it 1-0 in the night, and 4-2 on aggregate. With the assist, Yamal—who is 16 years and 278 days old—became the youngest player to record a goal involvement in the round of 16 of the Champions League.

However, the hosts were soon down to 10 men in the 29th minute after Araujo took down Barcola outside the area as he sprinted onto Nuno Mendes' ball, the defender was shown a straight red card, as Barcelona had more than an hour to keep PSG to a single goal.

Dembele arrived at the far post to meet Barcola's low cross in front of Joao Cancelo to pull one back for PSG in the 40th minute, temporarily silencing the crowd that jeered the former Barca player throughout.

The Frenchman has scored in consecutive UEFA Champions League games for the first time since October 2020 (with Barcelona), and he is also the first player to score away against Barca after previously playing for them in the competition since Zlatan Ibrahimovic, also for Paris, in December 2014.

The French champions took the lead in the 54th minute (1-2 and 4-4 on aggregate), thanks to a brilliant shot from Vitinha, and Barcelona's manager Xavi was thrown off for kicking some water bottles, adding to their aggravation.

Xavi became very upset with referee Kovacs, complaining bitterly and received his own red card. That didn't still stopped him, as he returned to the ground at the final whistle to vent his resentment on the Romanian official.

After Cancelo had taken down Dembele inside the area, Mbappe scored from the penalty spot to put an end to the Spanish team's suffering.

In an attempt to send the match into extra time, Mbappe capitalised on a counterattack following a poor clearance from Jules Kounde by scoring from close range to secure a semi-final spot.

It is the second time Barcelona will lose by a similar scoreline to PSG, repeating the 2021 round-of-16 debacle at Camp Nou.

The defeat is also Barcelona’s first in 13 matches in all competitions, while PSG are in the semi-final of the UCL for the first time in three years.

Speaking to Movistar Plus, Xabi stated that the referees had a noticeable impact on the game.

"The referee performed terribly. I informed him that his performance was appalling. Although i dislike discussing about referees... Xavi said.

"The fact that the red card decided the game has us furious and disturbed. With eleven players, we were well-positioned, dominating the game, and playing well.

"In a game like this, it is excessive to flash a red card. After then, there was another game. It is unfortunate that an unwarranted dismissal marred the season's worth of labour."

"We were highly organised when it was 11 against 11," said Barcelona manager Xavi. The entire match altered. Robert Lewandowski missed a chance to make it 2-0, but Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) gave us a chance to tie the score at 2-2.

"Big chances, but it's usually much harder to chase a match with ten men. If it had remained 11 versus 11, I would have wanted to see what would have happened. We have, in my opinion, earned some dignity from this Champions League campaign, and Barcelona will be back the next time, hopefully even more so.

"We worked the entire week, tactically, with the coach. His tactics were perfect. Even though we conceded the first goal, we didn't let our heads drop. We continued to believe."

"We weren't sure about what changes to make when Ronald was sent off. Pedri was coming back from a muscle injury but we wanted the type of control of possession and good use of the ball he brings and we wanted the running power of Raphinha.

"We chose to replace Lamine, sadly so that Inigo could come on. Those are the kind of consequences which follow being reduced to 10 men, I'm afraid."

PSG will now play Dortmund in the semi-finals, having already met them in the group phase of this season's competition. The German team also performed a turnaround in their tie with Atletico Madrid, responding to last week's 2-1 defeat in Spain with a 4-2 win in their second leg, resulting in a 5-4 aggregate triumph.

Barcelona will next visit LaLiga leaders Real Madrid in El Clasico on Sunday April 21, as they hope they can keep their title hopes alive close the gap on Real to five points with a win, while PSG return to Ligue 1 action, which they lead by 10 points, at home to Lyon on Sunday.

On the other thrilling quarter-final game on the night, Dortmund needed to respond perfectly by scoring first at a rocking Westfalenstadion and that is exactly what they did, taking the lead thanks to Julian Brandt's well-taken 34th-minute strike.

Five minutes later, Ian Maatsen, on loan from Chelsea, doubled Dortmund's advantage with a beautiful flowing move. However, Diego Simeone's three half-time substitutions had an instant impact as Atletico hit back in the second half.

Mats Hummels goal four minutes into the half gave the visitors the impetus they needed, and shortly after the hour, they took the lead thanks to a goal from replacement Angel Correa, who tied the score 2-2 and took the lead on aggregate 3-4.

But those two goals only aroused the home team, and they were level on aggregate again through a stunning glancing header from Niclas Fullkrug in the 71st minute, and then Edin Terzic’s side finally advanced thanks to an equally stunning effort from Marcel Sabitzer in the 74th minute to ignite celebrations at the Westfalenstadion.

The result meant the Bundesliga club make the last four for the firs time in 11 years (since 2013), as Atletico failed to secure their first Champions League semi-final appearance in seven years.

Atleti manager Diego Simeone dropped to his knees, then fell face down in his technical area. Even after 674 games in charge, his Atletico Madrid team still find new ways to surprise him.

Goalkeeper Jan Oblak has to collect the ball out of his net four times, making it 11 games in a row without a clean sheet for Atletico Madrid.

The performance from Diego Simeone's team is not his way; that’s not what his Atletico Madrid are anymore. No longer the masters in defence. No longer an impenetrable force. They are fallible and Dortmund made them pay.

Speaking after the game Simone said: "The team tried until the end to win a game that at all times was the opposite of what we wanted. Dortmund reacted well to us making it 2-2 and won the game precisely because they were more forceful in the area."

Dortmund will mow face already Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday April 21, while Atletico Madrid, sitting fourth in LaLiga, visit Alaves on Sunday.