No side had ever progressed in a knockout match in Europe’s elite competition after losing a home first leg by two or more goals, but United did the unthinkable, Rashford adding to Romelu Lukaku’s brace after VAR drama.
This was Paris’s seventh successive Uefa Champions League campaign and they have reached the round of 16 on each occasion – although they are yet to match their 1994/95 achievement of reaching the semifinals.
After four successive quarter final appearances between 2013 and 2016, Paris have lost at this stage in each of the last two seasons. In 2017/18 they went down 5-2 on aggregate to Real Madrid (1-3 away, 1-2 home); 12 months earlier, they had looked set for the quarterfinals after a 4-0 first-leg defeat of Barcelona at the Parc des Princes, only to go down 6-1 in Spain – a Uefa Champions League record comeback.
Although PSG controlled the first half, seeing 76 per cent of the ball, Thilo Kehrer and Gianluigi Buffon were guilty of gifting the in-form Lukaku two goals either side of Juan Bernat’s equaliser, meaning United led at the break.
“He made us play offensive football. He gives the young players the confidence.” – why the #MUFC players LOVE Solskjaer! https://t.co/0OKMYBJ8Ca#beINUCL #UCL #PSGMUN pic.twitter.com/W9oU9zobzh— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) March 6, 2019
PSG looked as though they had done enough, but with the use of technology, Presnel Kimpembe was penalised for handball and Rashford emphatically dispatched the opportunity, seeing the Ligue 1 team eliminated at the last-16 stage for a third year in succession.