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Kylian Mbappe reportedly angered Barcelona’s players after PSG’s Champions League triumph (Image: Getty)
Kylian Mbappe’s exuberant celebrations reportedly sparked a 60-man fight in the tunnel after Paris Saint-Germain dumped Barcelona out of the Champions League on Tuesday. According to reports in the Spanish media, Mbappe is claimed to have upset Barca’s players by shouting about his side’s victory.
Mbappe scored twice as PSG staged a thrilling comeback to win 6-4 on aggregate. Barca had themselves to blame having capitulated after leading the tie 4-2. Ronald Araujo was sent off midway through the first half after Raphinha had given the Spanish giants the lead.
Joao Cancelo then made a misjudged challenge on Ousmane Dembele, conceding a penalty from which Mbappe scored. PSG are into the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in three years. And their players reportedly delighted in celebrating that fact in the tunnel at Barca’s temporary Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys home.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Mbappe ran into the tunnel shouting: “It’s football and it’s on the pitch that we do our talking!” Those words are said to have upset Barca’s players, who began to argue back. The report estimates that around 60 individuals were involved in the feisty aftermath before tempers died down. Players and team personnel were eventually separated and headed back to their respective dressing rooms.
There were naturally vastly contrasting emotions, with PSG completing a memorable comeback while Barca were left to stew over allowing the tie to slip from their grasp. Raphinha had given the La Liga side the lead before Araujo’s red card proved to be the turning point in the tie, which Barca had led 3-2 thanks to a first-leg victory in Paris. Their former player Dembele scored the equaliser on the night before Vitinha’s long-range strike levelled the tie.
Real Madrid-bound Mbappe struck a penalty after Cancelo’s foul, before the Frenchman scored again late on. Boss Luis Enrique insisted afterwards that his side would have come back even without Araujo’s dismissal, although Barca’s Xavi denied that claim. Enrique later joked that he was ‘angry’ with CBS Sport pundits Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry.
It was expected among the panel that Barca would reach the semi-final at PSG’s expense. The 53-year-old said: “I watched on YouTube, all of you predicted that Barcelona were going through to the next phase. Nobody believed in our possibilities.
How sad I am, how sad I am.”