Lionel Messi scored a superb long-range effort and had a penalty saved as Paris St-Germain held off his spirited Barcelona side to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 5-2 aggregate win.

Messi’s stunning equaliser had given the visitors hope of staging a remarkable comeback after Kylian Mbappe had earlier put the hosts in front against the run of play with a penalty.

Ronald Koeman’s side had arrived at the Parc des Princes seeking to become the first side to overturn a three-goal deficit from the first leg at home by delivering a performance on the scale of ‘La Remontada’.

But some wasteful finishing, including Messi’s penalty that was deflected on to the bar by PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas on the stroke of half time, sealed their fate.

Replays suggested that Messi and Barca might have had a case for a re-take with PSG midfielder Marco Verratti appearing to encroach before the spot-kick was taken, but VAR ruled against that.

And a day after watching his old nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo bow out of the competition with Juventus, Messi befell the same fate on what may yet prove to be his final Champions League appearance for Barcelona.

Having suffered chastening 7-0 and 8-2 exits to Bayern Munich in recent years and been dismantled by Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the first leg at the Nou Camp, few would have held out hope of a Barcelona comeback prior to kick-off.

But the manner in which they set about PSG from the off was, at times, reminiscent of the Barcelona of old and there could have been few complaints had the Catalans gone some way to retrieving their sizable deficit before half time.

Ousmane Dembele in particular was guilty of spurning several excellent opportunities, while Sergino Dest was unfortunate to see his powerful drive cannon to safety off the crossbar after the faintest of touches by Navas.

However, PSG, who began tentatively in possession, also deserve some credit.

Mbappe, who has scored four goals over the tie, beat Messi’s record to become the youngest player to reach 25 goals in the competition when clinically converting after Clement Lenglet had fouled Mauro Icardi, while Navas, Presnel Kimpembe and Marquinhos all starred at the other end of the pitch.

With Neymar still to return from injury, last season’s finalists will fear few sides when the draw for the quarter and semi-finals of the competition is made on Friday, 19 March (11:00 GMT).

Barca’s long run ends – the stats

• After a run of three consecutive last 16 eliminations from 2016-17 to 2018-19, Paris St-Germain have reached the quarter-finals and beyond in consecutive campaigns.
• Barcelona have failed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2006-07 when they were eliminated by Liverpool in the last 16; they were on a run of 13 consecutive quarter-final appearances, the longest such run in the competition’s history.
• There were 21 shots in the first half of this match, the most in the first half of a Champions League match since November 2019 (Real Madrid vs Paris St-Germain, 22); the second half featured only seven shots this evening.
• Barcelona had 10 shots on target in this match, their most in a Champions League game they failed to win since March 2010 against Arsenal (also 10).
• Due to Cristiano Ronaldo’s elimination with Juventus last night, and Lionel Messi’s tonight with Barcelona, this will be the first season since 2004-05 to see neither’s side reach the quarter-final stage of the competition.
• There have been 44 goals in 12 Champions League matches between Paris St-Germain and Barcelona – only matches between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid (63) have seen more goals in the competition, while this fixture has the highest goals-per-game average (3.7, minimum 10 matches).
• Paris St-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe scored his 25th Champions League goal at the age of 22 years and 80 days, becoming the youngest player to reach this total in the competition; the record was previously held by Lionel Messi (22 years 286 days).
• Having scored a hat-trick in the first leg before adding another tonight, Paris St-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe has become the first player to score four times against Barcelona in a single Champions League campaign.
• Barcelona’s Lionel Messi failed to convert a penalty in the Champions League for the fourth time, and the first time since February 2015 against Manchester City (saved by Joe Hart).

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