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Sport

Contrasting fortunes for Barca and PSG in Champions League aftermath

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By Euronews
Contrasting fortunes for Barca and PSG in Champions League aftermath

There were contrasting fortunes for Barcelona and Paris Saint Germain in the wake of their epic Champions League encounter last week.

After Barca made history with a stunning comeback in the second leg of Europe’s top club competition which sent them through to the quarters and PSG out, the two clubs were back in action in their respective leagues over the weekend.

Luis Enrique’s Barca came back down to earth with a heavy bump at Deportivo La Coruna while PSG restored a little pride at struggling Lorient.

Barca were stunned by Deportivo La Coruna, who are stuck in the bottom third of the La Liga table.

The Catalan giants were in devastating form against PSG mid week but found themselves trailing Deportivo when Joselu fired his side into a first-half lead.

Luis Suarez levelled one minute after the restart for his 21st league goal of the season but Alex Bergantinos handed Deportivo the win 16 minutes from time to dent Barca’s title hopes.

PSG bounced back from their European humiliation in the best way possible with a 2-1 away win at the league’s bottom club Lorient.

Although the French champions were not in top form, a first-half own goal by Benjamin Jeannot and Christopher Nkunku’s first league goal ensured the capital club a return to much-needed winning ways.

Michaël Ciani clawed one back for the hosts on 68 minutes and deservedly so, but Unai Emery’s Parisians held on for a 2-1 win which keeps them three points behind leaders Monaco.

Elsewhere in Spain and France

Real Madrid came from behind to beat Real Betis 2-1 on Sunday and keep on track for record-extending 33rd La Liga title.

The result leaves Zinedine Zidane’s men two points clear of Barca at the top of the table and with a game in hand.

Real Madrid remain the only unbeaten team at home in La Liga this season.

With all that said Real Madrid’s keeper Keylor Navas had a day to forget between the sticks.

The Costa Rican should have been sent off for an appalling tackle on Darko Brasanac and then minutes later fumbled a tame shot by Antonio Sanabria into his own net.

Over in France Monaco beat Bordeaux at home 2-1 to stay top of the Ligue One.

It was the perfect boost ahead of hosting Wednesday’s Champions League Round-of-16 return leg against Manchester City, having lost a thrilling first leg 5-3.

At the other end of the French topflight table Bastia were on the receiving end of a 5-0 thumping at Guingamp.

It was the Corsican side’s 11th consecutive game without a victory, a streak that stretches back to mid December and has left them second from bottom in the league and staring down the barrel of relegation.

We might be wrong

This week the remaining four spots for the Champions League quarter-finals will be filled. Here are our predictions for these games.

Last week we got one correct result: Real Madrid’s 3-1 win over Napoli.

Have a go yourselves and send us your predictions via social media using #TheCornerScores.

Champions League – Round of 16, second leg:

Juventus 3-0 Porto
Leicester 2-1 Sevilla
Atlético de Madrid 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen
Monaco 3-1 Manchester City

Around the world

Japanese striker Kazuyoshi Miura, whose nickname is ‘‘King Kazu’‘, entered the history books over the weekend when he became the oldest professional footballer to score a competitive goal.

At 50 years and 14 days old, Miura, whose career spans 31 years, scored the only goal of the game handing Yokohama FC a 1-0 win over Thespa Kusatsu in Japan’s second division, J-League 2.

In doing so he beat former England international Sir Stanley Matthews’ 52-year-long record by nine days.