LONDON: Paris St Germain buried the ghosts of their embarrassing 2017 exit as they drew 1-1 at home with Barcelona on Wednesday to complete a 5-2 aggregate victory that sent them into the Champions League quarter-finals.

Four years af ter Barca claimed a memorable 6-1 win to overturn a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the last 16, PSG lacked inspiration but their 4-1 advantage f rom the first game in Spain was suf ficient this time.

Kylian Mbappe, who scored a hat-trick at the Nou Camp, opened the scoring with a penalty against the run of play before Lionel Messi levelled with a superb long-range goal, but the Argentine had a spot-kick saved by Keylor Navas on the stroke of halftime.

The French champions were on the back foot in the second half as Barca piled on the pressure but Barca exited the competition before the semi-finals for the second year in a row.

Barca`s exit ensured it will be the first time since 2005 that neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo will be in the Champions League quarter-finals after Juventus were also knocked out in the last 16, on Tuesday.

In the night`s other last-16 second leg clash, second-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane eased Liverpool into the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over RB Leipzig to complete a comfortable 4-0 aggregate victory and keep alive their hopes of rescuing their miserable domestic season with European glory.

Liverpool, leading 2-0 from the first-leg, had several chances to extend their advantage in the first half but lacked sharpness in front of goal.

Both legs of the last-16 tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest due to Germany`s Covid-19 related travel restrictions.

After six successive defeats at Anfield and dropping to eighth place in the Premier League and 25 points off the lead, Juergen Klopp`s men looked relieved to be away from home for their `home` game against Leipzig.

Leipzig, flying domestically on the back of six straight Bundesliga wins, couldn`t repro-duce that form in Europe this season having surprisingly reached the semi-finals last season.

Julian Nagelsmann`s men, who dumped Tottenham Hotspur out at this stage of the competition last year and Manchester United in the group stage this season, rarely looked like claiming an even bigger scalp by turning the tie around.

`We didn`t reach our best level of achievement today and so we don`t deserve to progress, however tough that may feel,` said Nagelsmann.

MESSI MISSES PENALTY PSG withstood early pressure from a much-improved but wasteful Barca side, which squandered chance after chance in the opening half-hour on a cold, wet and windy night at an empty Parc des Princes.

Poor decision-making from Ousmane Dembele did not help the away side, although he also saw one ball across the face of goal just escape the outstretched leg of Messi.

As an impromptu fireworks display broke out just outside the stadium, Navas then produced his first superb save midway through the first half when heturned Sergino Dest`s shot onto the woodwork, and it was against the run of play that PSG went ahead.

Clement Lenglet caught the heel of Mauro Icardi in the area in the 28th minute, a foul that was almost invisible on first viewing but was confirmed by English referee Anthony Taylor after a VAR review.

Mbappe scored from the spot for his fourth goal in the tie and his26thofthe season.

Barca kept coming though, and Messi equalised with a shot from range that was like a tracer bullet that whistled into the top corner, not the kind of goal he scores often.

It was his 25th this season, and he could have scored again in first-half stoppage time as Layvin Kurzawa was penalised for catching Griezmann in the box.

However, Messi was denied by Navas, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper dousing Barca`s hopes as he continued to do in the second half.

`It was a difficult match, Barca played a great game, Navas said. `They forced us to give everything we had. It`s always tough to stop a penalty, especially from Messi who hits them very well. I`m very pleased, it gave everyone a lot of energy.SALAH, MANE FIRE LIVERPOOL A string of saves by goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi once a Liverpool player kept Leipzig in contention before Salah made the breakthrough in the 70th minute.

Salah lined up a low shot tucked inside the right post after Diogo Jota showed smart movement on the counter to create space for Salah before passing to the Egypt forward.

As Leipzig tried to find a way back into the game four minutes later, substitute Divock Origi found space on the right flank to cross low for Mane to tap in.

The closest Leipzig came to scoring was when Alexander Sorloth headed against the crossbarin the 67th, before Liverpool responded with two goals to end the German team`s chances.

`It is a big result for us,` said Salah. `We lost a few games in the Premier League, the team is not in the best shape but we want to fight in the Champions League. It`s been tough in the Premier League, everybody can see that. The last couple of years we were winning, we were flying. This year we had a couple of injuries so we were unlucky, we are trying to fix that but it is hard.`-Agencies