ESPN FC – Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Chelsea from the Champions League for a second successive season to book their place in the quarterfinals after a thrilling encounter at Stamford Bridge.
PSG went into the match with a 2-1 advantage from the first leg at the Parc des Princes and triumphed by the same scoreline in London to secure a 4-2 aggregate win.
The French champions took just 16 minutes to extend their advantage in the second leg. Zlatan Ibrahimovic — who had earlier seen an effort ruled out for offside — found Adrien Rabiot at the back post for the opener, cancelling out the Blues’ away goal.
Chelsea hit back on 27 minutes as Diego Costa collected a pass from Willian before finding the space to fire a shot past Kevin Trapp, leaving Chelsea in need of one goal to take the match to extra time.
While PSG still held a slender advantage and the hosts knew a second away goal would severely complicate their task, both sides continued to press for goals either side of the break.
However, Chelsea suffered a major setback when Costa had to be replaced by Bertrand Traore after picking up an injury with just under an hour played.
Within seven minutes, the contest was effectively settled when Ibrahimovic — scorer of the opening goal in Paris — was presented with a simple finish from Angel Di Maria’s cross.
With PSG leading 4-2 on aggregate, and holding the advantage on away goals, the Blues required three goals to progress. The home players and crowd appeared resigned to their fate as the game drew to its conclusion, with the defending Premier League champions now facing up to a season without Europe’s premier club competition.
PSG, meanwhile, underlined their growing status as one of the continent’s most feared clubs, after having been eliminated by Chelsea two seasons ago.
