Raphinha and Christensen conjure slim advantage as Barcelona edge PSG

Champions League: PSG 2 Barcelona 3

On a gripping, frantic night at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona produced a game that felt like the opposite of the “Barca DNA” Xavi had spoken about in the build-up to this quarter-final first leg.

Never mind control, patterns and a fight for space. This was an increasingly wild game, building from a mannered start into a second half of sweeping mob-handed attacks, feather-light defending and chances that simply came and went, posts clipped, shots blocked in desperation.

By the end Barcelona had probably done enough to deserve their 3-2 lead heading back to the Camp Nou for the second leg. But nobody who watched the wilder parts of this game would see anything other than more goals on both sides there. Frankly, this could have been anything.

Security around the Parc des Princes had been significantly beefed up before the game in response to the threat from the terror group Isis. Drones circled the sky. Heavily tooled-up police occupied the corners. Paris 2024 is still planning a mass city-centre Olympic opening ceremony a hundred days from now. It keeps on being scaled back. Expect a little more of that from here.

Inside its brutalist concrete walls the Parc was rocking at kick-off, drenched in a lengthy pre-match Star Wars-themed son-et-lumière show that involved playing the Imperial March quite a lot, and climaxed with the unfurling of an enormous militaristic Yoda banner at one end. And why not?

Barcelona had Frenkie de Jong back from injury in central midfield, with the hugely exciting teenager Lamine Yamal starting. PSG had Marquinhos covering at right-back again and Marco Asensio starting through the centre of the attack.

The home team set out to stretch