Announcement was no shock but reflects environment shift at club and an appetite to find stability after a dismal week

Being the Barcelona manager is “cruel and unpleasant” Xavi Hernández said, but in the end it is all he ever wanted, all he has got. He is all they have got too. And so on Wednesday night, three days after any lingering hopes of winning the league were extinguished , eight days after being knocked out of Europe again, 88 after announcing he was leaving and calling it a “liberation”, he decided that he would continue after all . Ultimately, he just could not let go and nor could they.

“I have no problem changing my mind,” Xavi said on Thursday. When he had said he was leaving on 27 January , Barcelona had just conceded five at home for the first time in 60 years, a defeat he described as a portrait of their season: self-inflicted and absurd, a complete collapse. He had previously linked his continuity to trophies, the first law of coaching; beaten 5-3 by Villarreal, they were 10 points off the top. They had also lost to Real Madrid in the Super Cup final and to Athletic in the Copa del Rey quarters, conceding four in each. Besides, it went deeper than defeats.

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• Xavi agrees to stay after meeting with president and board
• Bayern Munich in talks with Austria manager Ralf Rangnick

Xavi Hernández has reversed his decision to leave Barcelona at the end of the season and will stay on as head coach after talks with the club president, Joan Laporta, and board members on Wednesday.

“Xavi will stay, he’s really happy,” confirmed the Barcelona vice-president, Rafa Yuste. “We’ve never opened talks for any other coach. [Barça director] Deco trusts Xavi, it’s guaranteed”. Xavi met face-to-face with Deco earlier on Wednesday, with Laporta pushing to keep the head coach on board beyond the summer.

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Just when Montjuïc roared, clinging to the hope that there might be a way back into this, one last chance to see Barcelona reach the semi-final for the first time in five years, there was Kylian Mbappé and his Paris Saint-Germain teammates sprinting across the running track in celebration. Two goals down from the first leg, one down in the second, Luis Enrique’s side had come back to lead 3-1 in the second, 5-4 overall, but had been on edge until the very last minute. When, at last, they broke away and silenced the Olympic Stadium.

It had been a long night for them, and even longer for Barcelona. A goal up through Raphinha, they had gone down to ten men because of a red card for Ronald Araújo and been forced to resist for just too long, goals from Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola and Mbappé giving them a 3-1 lead that they clung to in those late, tense minutes before they finally made it safe, Achraf Hakimi dashing clear to set up three successive shots which ended with Mbappé finally applying the finish.

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• Champions League updates, 8pm BST kick-off ( first leg: 3-2 )
• Live scoreboard | Read Football Daily | And send Scott a mail

Since Barcelona won the Champions League in 2015 under Luis Enrique, they’ve been on the wrong end of three second-leg comebacks in Uefa’s flagship competition. A 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid in 2016 after a 2-1 home win. A 3-0 capitulation at Roma in 2018 after a 4-1 home win. That four-goal mauling by Liverpool in 2019 after a 3-0 victory at Camp Nou. Would it complete a narrative arc if they somehow threw away a first-leg lead yet again, against a Paris Saint-Germain team now managed by Luis Enrique? Well, no, not really. But it would still be something. Barça are favourites to progress to a semi-final against either Borussia Dortmund or Atlético Madrid having won 3-2 in Paris last week; the French champions require a superstar performance from Kylian Mbappé if they’re to stop Barça gaining revenge for their 5-2 aggregate victory over the Catalans in 2021. Whatever happens, one big team will be crashing out tonight, so with everything on the line this promises to be a cracker. Kick-off at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona is at 8pm BST, 9pm local. It’s on!

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Residents welcome removal of number 116 route, often used to get to Park Güell

While some places will go to any lengths to attract visitors, residents of La Salut neighbourhood in Barcelona are celebrating a move to wipe themselves off the map.

For years, residents had complained that they could not get home because the number 116 bus is always crammed with tourists visiting Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell. The park is the city’s second most popular attraction after the Sagrada Familia basilica.

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• Germán Burgos sacked by Movistar Plus+
• Barcelona and PSG refused to give interviews

The Spanish TV station Movistar Plus+ has fired the analyst Germán Burgos after Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain refused to give interviews to the network on account of his comment about Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal before Wednesday’s Champions League match.

Movistar Plus+ had earlier apologised to Yamal after Burgos, a former Argentina goalkeeper and assistant manager at Atlético Madrid, said “if [professional football] doesn’t go well for him, he could end up at a traffic light”.

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The knockout stages have finally started to deliver, with standout performances from Phil Foden, Antoine Griezmann and Barcelona’s reluctant fullback

Perhaps the quarter-finals are where the Champions League can be counted to catch light. This week’s first legs saw goals aplenty, with a mix of veteran and young guns starring, with each second leg set up for even more excitement.

Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak, Atlético Madrid

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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.

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• Updates from the 8pm BST kick-off at the Parc des Princes
• Have any thoughts? Send them to Taha via email

Here’s the full set-up for both sides.

PSG: Donnarumma, Marquinhos, Hernández, Lucas Beraldo, Mendes, Lee, Vitinha, Ruiz, Dembélé, Asensio, K. Mbappé

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