Barcelona were held to a draw and have personnel problems.
Messi scored but injured his hamstring.
Mascherano is out for six weeks.
Thiago Silva was man of the match and kept Paris St-Germain in the tie.
In Munich, Bayern’s Ribery was a fireball against Juventus, a human meteor, and so was Thomas Muller.
Last night was big because it saw the clash of four league-leaders.
La Liga champions-elect Barcelona drew 2-2 in Paris against nouveau riche PSG.
Runaway Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich outplayed Serie A leaders Juventus and beat them 2-0 and look a sure thing for the semi-finals.
When the Barcelona game started I was thinking: A win here against the best team in the world would really put PSG on the map.
Lavezzi looked bouncy and menacing. When Iniesta hit a curling shot in 17, I was sure it was going in. But the ball flew two feet wide of the top corner.
Piquet\’s foul on Ibrahimovic in the D suggested that Barca just might struggle tonight but when the big man hammered the free-kick past low past the wall, Victor Valdes got down to stop the ball with his right wrist and then Thiago Silva made a good tackle on Messi in the box, poking the ball away with split-second judgement.
Messi had been invisible but when PSG ran out after defending a corner, Dani Alves found him unmarked with a diagonal ball and Messi\’s shot was deadly accurate, as usual.
Messi’s 57th goal of the season made it 1-0 to Barcelona.
With Messi off in the second half, PSG played a higher line, which they had to do to get back into the game.
Carlo Ancelotti knows that Beckham\’s legs have gone long ago but he started the Englishman for his experience.
Becks did OK for 70 minutes in a quarterback role, while powerhouse athlete Matuidi had to cover as much ground as Roy Keane in his heyday.
With Messi on the pitch, Barcelona always think they can win.
Without him, they were unable to take charge of the second half.
When Maxwell, once their left back, took a superb free-kick, Thiago Silva bounced a thunderous header off the post and Ibra was first to the rebound to make it 1-1.
So the last ten minutes were dramatic.
Alexis Sanchez played for a penalty and got one in 88. He nicked the ball past Salvatore Sirigu, who is Buffon\’s deputy in Italy\’s national team, put the brakes on, and let the keeper clatter him.
Xavi converted for 2-1.
But in 90+4, Ibrahimovic nodded down and Matuidi\’s deflected shot squirted past Valdes on his right side.
Well done PSG! They rose to the occasion and gave it everything they had.
Their success is raising the bar in France and Lyon and Marseilles will have to react now.
In the Allianz, Juventus were thumped after Bayern got a flying start with a goal in 25 seconds.
David Alaba\’s shot deflected off the toe of midfielder Arturo Vidal and bounced past the off-balance Gigi Buffon.
With Schweinsteiger, Ribery and Gustavo restored to the team that didn\’t impress in the Arsenal second leg, Bayern were very hungry, fast, mean and organised.
When Brazilian Gustavo fired a left-foot shot from 23 yards, Buffon spilled the ball to the hard-working Mario Mandzukic, who squared to give Muller a tap-in.
This first leg, a 2-0 victory over Juventus, is the kind of result a Champions League manager dreams about.
Jupp Heynckes will be over the moon, I\’m sure.
PSG are obviously a work-in-progress but I was impressed by their skills and appetite, even though the raiding Lavezzi didn\’t have one of his better games.
Their younger players Lucas Moura and Matuidi ran with the ball too much when they should have passed it.
They\’ll learn and I reckon the laidback Ancelotti is exactly the right coach for that project.
Heartening see Barca coach Tito Vilanova back on the touchline in Paris after 12 weeks of treatment for throat cancer in New York.
Really hope Tito can make a 100% recovery now.
Having lost my bottle on Monday when Manchester United failed to score in the Chelsea replay, I decided not to bet last night.
But I backed Barcelona to win. Then I backed Messi first goalscorer.
And then I backed Ibra each way, so his late offside goal being allowed lost my first bet but won my third.
So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut used to say.
PS. Blogging 2 games can be tricky when you’re interrupted by phone calls.
Can cause more cock-ups than usual. Sorry!