How Europe's press covered Barcelona's comeback
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Article summary
The consensus among Europe's sports media is that Barcelona pulled off a "miracle" last night – UEFA.com rounds up the best of the reaction to the Blaugrana's amazing 6-1 win.
Article top media content
Article body
- How Barcelona ripped up the history books
- Graham Hunter on an 'unbelievable night' in Barcelona
- Report and analysis: Barcelona 6-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Belarus
Pressball.by: "Every one of those six goals was a miracle or sorts. Barcelona deserve to be dubbed the seventh wonder of the world. Only a truly great club could win a tie they had to lose, in such style."
Croatia
"Barcelona's millenium achivement," reads the headline in Sportske Novosti. "The world never saw such a turnaround in this miraculous Barcelona victory."
24sata speak of the "miracle in Barcelona" and how "the Parisians came to the Camp Nou with a 4-0 lead and had a three-goal advantage until the 88th minute, but all of this wasn't enough".
Czech Republic
"Miracle? Yes, a miracle," says Sport. "Nothing is impossible. If you are Barcelona."
England
For The Daily Telegraph, the match was greater than one that "goes down in history". "It was so, so much more than that as the disbelieving looks on the players, the staff, coaches, fans of Barcelona showed," chief football correspondent Jason Burt writes. "This club, these players, have done everything. But they have never done this."
France
To sum up Paris's collapse, L'Équipe repeat on their front page the same adjective they used in 1993 on the occasion that France lost 3-2 at home to Bulgaria when a draw was enough to advance to the FIFA World Cup. "Inqualifiable", which usually means unspeakable.
"A berth in the quarter-finals seemed ensured on 88 minutes, then PSG conceded three time within seven minutes and allowed Barça to record a historic recovery," they write. "The whole Paris project is now under threat after such a humiliation."
Germany
"God is a Barça fan," writes Zeit Online. Sports website Spox opens with "Lift off to ecstasy", adding: "This comeback was a message by the players to their departing coach."
Greece
Non-sports paper Ethnos leads with: "The opus of Barcelona! The comback of the century." SportDay, meanwhile, borrow a famous line from Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis, 'Reach what you cannot'. "This is the only quote that applies to the footballing work of art created by Barcelona."
Italy
"The Barcelona miracle changed football," writes Gazzetta dello Sport. "Until 8 March 2017 football was something. Now that something is old, outdated, changed forever. The border of 'impossible' was moved far away yesterday."
Lithunania
Leading Lithuanian news website 15min: "It seemed that only divine intervention could save Luis Enrique's men from elimination after the 4-0 loss in Paris and on Wednesday evening the football gods must have worn the Blaugrana shirt."
Romania
Gazeta Sporturilor: "Miracles really happen. This is what you see only once in a lifetime. Seven golden minutes of football history."
Pro Sport: "We will tell our children about this night. Fabulous! Unforgettable!"
Sport.ro: "This can't be real. Staggering! Extraterrestrial!"
Ukraine
football.ua: "The denouement of this match will go down in the history of world football. The Catalans go further, but PSG fans will long remember this evening with anguish."