Barcelona, Spain – PSG lodged a valiant effort but fell just short of advancing to the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday as the French side played to a 1-1 draw with Barcelona at Camp Nou, bowing out of the competition on away goals.
After playing to a 2-2 draw in the opening leg at the Parc des Princes last week, PSG made a brilliant start by drawing first blood in the return match through Javier Pastore.
The Catalans, who held Lionel Messi out of the starting lineup due to his minor injury, managed to level the aggregate score at three goals apiece with Pedro's equalizer, sending Barcelona through to the next round thanks to its two goals in France.
After a scoreless first half at Camp Nou, PSG took the shock lead in the 50th minute when Pastore worked a one-two with Zlatan Ibrahimovic at midfield to get in behind the Barcelona defense. The Argentine striker went the distance, outrunning Dani Alves and slipping a shot past Victor Valdes.
It was enough to draw Messi off the bench as the Argentine magician entered the match in the 62nd minute and helped the home side get on equal terms nine minutes later.
Messi started the move by drifting inside and feeding David Villa against the grain. Villa, whose run into the penalty area attracted three PSG defenders, laid the ball off for Pedro to smack a first-time effort through traffic and into the back of the net.
Barcelona staved off some moderate pressure from PSG in the latter stages of the match, but the Catalans never looked likely to concede.
Bayern Munich 2, Juventus 0
Turin, Italy - Bayern Munich made it through to the Champions League semifinals with relative ease on Wednesday, picking up a 2-0 win over Juventus at Juventus Stadium to advance by a 4-0 aggregate count.
Arjen Robben came closest to opening the scoring when he cut inside to lash a wicked strike toward goal in the 57th minute, but it skimmed the outside of the post before sailing out of play.
Bayern eventually did claim the edge hen a free kick seven minutes later was flicked on goal by Javi Martinez. Gianluigi Buffon parried away the attempt with a point-blank save, but Mario Madzukic was arriving to head home the rebound.
The icing on the cake came in the first minute of stoppage time. Bastian Schweinsteiger slid an inch-perfect ball into the path of Claudio Pizarro, who finished the chance by slotting his effort under a diving Buffon.
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