PSG’s summer signings Ousmane Dembélé and Gonçalo Ramos proved they are clicking at last against Lorient By Eric Devin for Get French Football News This was the situation Paris Saint-Germain faced on Wednesday night at the Stade du Moustoir: Luis Enrique sent out a heavily rotated team, the visitors having all but clinched the league title, and they were away to a Lorient side with talented individuals, fighting to stay in the top flight. It sounded like a recipe for dropped points and there is a precedent: PSG closed out the end of last season with a draw to Strasbourg and a loss to Clermont ..read more

A round packed with goals brought us a smiling Ousmane Dembélé, a frustrated Bukayo Saka and match-winning performance from a goalkeeper If Tuesday night’s Champions League second legs tipped one way and then the other with attacking flair, then Wednesday was a night for grit to win the day – and English football to be the loser. It also brought a restoration of the old order, with Bayern and Real Madrid to meet in the semi-finals. Goalkeeper: Andriy Lunin, Real Madrid ..read more

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernández berated the referee and said his performance cost the club a chance to fight for a place in the Champions League semi-finals after they lost 4-1 to Paris St Germain and were knocked out of the competition. 'Since I am here, all of them were against us. All of them. I mean, all of them,' Xavi said. Mbappé seals wild PSG comeback win as Barcelona implode after Araújo red ..read more

Ronald Araújo’s first-half sending off turned the tide, as Kylian Mbappé, Vitinha and former Barça player Ousmane Dembélé scored the goals that sent Xavi’s side crashing out 2 min: Mbappé runs at young Cubarsí but comes off second best, sprawling on the turf. He wants a foul, but play is waved on, correctly so. Great challenge by the 17-year-old defender. “In the First World War, the Turkish troops fought their own division in a thick fog while trying to progress in Russia,” writes Krishna Moorthy. “I always thought this was an exaggeration but after FCB fans attacking their own bus, I tend to ..read more

High in the Olympic stadium, the flares were lit. Way below, Kylian Mbappé had lept over the advertising boards and was running towards the 3,000 supporters who had travelled from France, his teammates chasing him across the track, celebrating wildly. There was a solitary minute remaining and, for all their domination, it had been on edge, but now it really was over: Paris Saint-Germain are heading into the semi-final of the Champions League, overturning a 3-2 first leg defeat at the Parc des Princes with a 4-1 victory in Catalonia; Barcelona, for a sixth season in a row, are not. This time, t ..read more

Barcelona take 3-2 lead into Tuesday’s second leg at Camp Nou ‘We need our fans to be loud because PSG will make us suffer’ Barcelona are ready for a battle against Paris Saint-Germain in the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Xavi Hernández said on Monday, adding that his players are willing to suffer in order to advance. Barça beat PSG 3-2 in the first leg in France last week but Xavi said his side would need to be nearly flawless to reach the semi-finals for the first time in five years ..read more

Ligue 1 gave the clubs a rest before their European fixtures. Should their needs be prioritised over those of smaller clubs? By Luke Entwistle for Get French Football News This was no normal weekend in Ligue 1. Elsewhere in Europe, there were scenes of joy in Leverkusen as Xabi Alonso’s side ended Bayern Munich’s run on 11 straight titles, while at Anfield and the Emirates, there were scenes of despair as Liverpool and Arsenal ceded crucial ground to Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title. It was a little quieter in France. In late March, the LFP, Ligue 1’s governing body, de ..read more

The knockout stages have finally started to deliver, with standout performances from Phil Foden, Antoine Griezmann and Barcelona’s reluctant fullback Perhaps the quarter-finals are where the Champions League can be counted to catch light. This week’s first legs saw goals aplenty, with a mix of veteran and young guns starring, with each second leg set up for even more excitement. Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak, Atlético Madrid ..read more

On a gripping, frantic night at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona produced a game that felt like the opposite of the “Barca DNA” Xavi had spoken about in the build-up to this quarter-final first leg. Never mind control, patterns and a fight for space. This was an increasingly wild game, building from a mannered start into a second half of sweeping mob-handed attacks, feather-light defending and chances that simply came and went, posts clipped, shots blocked in desperation ..read more

Spain to deploy 2,000 officers at Real Madrid v Manchester City French interior minister says IS ‘specifically targeted’ stadiums Police in Madrid and Paris have stepped up security before this week’s Champions League quarter-finals after an apparent threat from Islamic State (IS). In London, the Metropolitan police said it had “a robust policing plan” in place for Tuesday’s match between Arsenal and Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium ..read more