It was around 10:50 p.m. when the Geosciences Barcelona seismometer began to increase.
Just a few hundred meters away, more than 96,000 people were jumping like crazy, crying, hugging and clutching their faces in utter joy and disbelief.
Sergi Roberto had just scored the goal that sealed the most remarkable victory on Barcelona’s field. On the Camp Nou pitch, his teammates ran until they found him and soon he was no longer seen, buried under a pile of bodies. Luis Enrique was sprinting like crazy down the sideline, as was his entire coaching staff.
Roberto’s 95th-minute goal put Barca up 6-1 against Paris Saint-Germain on the night, sealing their progression to the Champions League quarter-finals despite a damaging 4-0 defeat in the match go.
That night, March 8, 2017, the city of Barcelona was in a state of general madness and all the euphoria turned into a kind of earthquake, after the most spectacular comeback.
𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚́𝐬 : @SergiRoberto10 against PSG pic.twitter.com/Vbn9cHdMXZ
– FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) March 28, 2022
But just a month earlier, the Catalans had returned from the French capital with the feeling that an era might already be over. In 2015, Luis Enrique’s team achieved the second treble in its history (the first dates back to 2009) with its fifth Champions League trophy. This four-goal demolition by PSG, a club still in the early days of its transformation after its takeover by Qatar Sports Investment, seemed symbolic.
“The first days after the 4-0 defeat were one of total fatalism,” said José Manuel Lazaro, then Barcelona’s press manager.
“We saw ourselves (as) out of the Champions League. Then the days passed, the weeks passed. The team won 2-1 at Atletico Madrid. They beat Sporting Gijon 6-1. And four days before the second leg, they beat Celta Vigo 5-0.
“We all started to feel like it wasn’t over yet, that it was possible to come back. We started to believe it. Luis Enrique is a very optimistic guy who doesn’t take anything for granted.”
Francesc Satorra – known as “The Observer” since photos captured his reaction to then-Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho’s eye on Barca assistant Tito Vilanova during the 2011 Spanish Super Cup – worked for 41 years at the club in various roles. On the evening of “La Remuntada” (Catalan for “The Return”), he worked in operations, with responsibility for the pitch, the changing rooms and the mixed zone.
“As the second leg was not played immediately after the match in Paris, there was time for acceptance, reflection and for Barca to start thinking positively,” Satorra said.
“It is worth remembering that Luis Enrique always has a psychologist in his team, Joaquín Valdes. He played a very important role as the day approached.
Barcelona fans have always tended towards pessimism, but there was still a full house at the Camp Nou that evening. You could see banners saying “Yes we can” or “We will complete the return”. Some supporters seem to have shunned their usual fatalism.
“When we arrived at the stadium, we expected something to happen,” said José Sanchis, match commentator for Mediapro, the Spanish production company which held TV rights to the Champions League.
“In the media it was repeated almost like a mantra that any comeback would be the greatest in Champions League history. Among the number of matches I have seen at Camp Nou, I have never seen this atmosphere before or since.
Barça got off to a perfect start. Not even three minutes had passed when Luis Suarez scored first. The Uruguayan celebrated by waving his arms like crazy and putting his index finger to his mouth. The home side were dominating, and although the euphoria caused by that opening goal had subsided, a Layvin Kurzawa own goal gave them a 2-0 lead at the break. It was a long road ahead, but fans now had reason to hope.
Five minutes after half-time, Andres Iniesta found Neymar in the area with a brilliant pass and the Brazilian was brought down by Thomas Meunier. Lionel Messi took charge and kicked off. He ran to get the ball. Somehow, Barca were just one goal away from tying the score on aggregate.
The pitch was lively but, 12 minutes later, Edinson Cavani seemed to spoil the party. His away goal meant Barcelona had to score three more if they wanted to progress. They had half an hour to do it.
“As a commentator, in the cabin next to me was French television,” Sanchis explains. “They started shouting that it was over and that the next day should be a day of celebration throughout Paris, that it was Saint Cavani’s Day. I guess they weren’t counting on Neymar. It was he who gave confidence to Barça fans.
Cavani’s goal was like a cold shower for the whole stadium. But the team didn’t lose heart, and on a rare night when Messi wasn’t the standout player, Neymar was their source of inspiration.
In hindsight it seems utterly absurd, but with just over two minutes of the 90 remaining, Barca were still chasing those three goals.
They found one in the 88th minute as Neymar scored a superb free kick, his first goal of the evening. His second transformer arrived three minutes later.
Now everyone was standing. The Brazilian wasted no time in celebrating, waving his arms and encouraging his supporters to cheer even louder and stay with them until the very end, as he returned to the center circle.
Five minutes had been added.
In the 94th minute, Barça won a deep free kick and goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen got in on the action. Neymar took it. This was easily resolved – but not completely.
When the ball came back to him, everyone on the field knew it was it. All or nothing, as they say.
Marco Verratti came out to meet him. Neymar fakes and moves the ball onto his left foot. He crossed into the box – too long for Gerard Pique, but not for Roberto.
The Barcelona substitute extended his right boot as far as possible.
“I remember we were already desperate. Before Neymar’s goals, it seemed impossible,” Roberto says now.
“But I saw we would have one last chance and I headed towards the far post. For a moment, I thought the ball wouldn’t reach me because Gérard had stretched out his arm. But eventually he fell and I managed to touch him. From that point on it was absolute madness.
On Spanish television, Sanchis repeatedly said: “No se puede creer, no se puede creer (“I can’t believe it”). He seemed stuck in a loop for almost an entire minute.
“It’s one of the most exciting stories I can remember and it has nothing to do with the connection you have with one team or another,” he says. “I was aware that I was personally witnessing something historic. On the other side of me, I had an English TV crew, and they were all going crazy too. I remember seeing them throwing papers in the air, screaming, punching each other, hugging each other.
Roberto celebrated by falling to the ground. He quickly disappeared under a pile of delighted teammates. The Camp Nou was a big party.
Luis Enrique ran like Usain Bolt down the sideline. On the stairs leading from the locker rooms to the field stood Satorra, between the two benches.
“There was an uncontrollable and indescribable explosion of euphoria and collective joy,” he says. “It’s hard to explain if you don’t experience it. We all jumped out of our seats in the dugout area and hugged each other not knowing who we were doing this with. It was a dream come true.”
Lazaro was sitting in the VIP seats.
“I can never forget the moment the ball went into the back of the net,” he said. “While I was screaming with joy, Patrick Kluivert (then sporting director of PSG) and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi (still president of the French club) ran out, looking somber, slamming the elevator door. They didn’t wait for the match to end.
Satorra says they weren’t the only ones who left early.
“A lot of people left their seats after Cavani’s goal. And even a large part of the press went to the mixed zone early, thinking that Barça would be eliminated and that was it. (PSG head coach) Unai Emery and his entire staff came down the tunnel with a face that was a picture – very angry and ranting at everyone.
Roberto remembers the very different scene in the home locker room.
“It was a continuation of all the joy that we already saw on the field,” he said. “A burst of absolute euphoria after achieving the seemingly impossible. Then I went home, where my parents were waiting for me, and I celebrated with them.
“The first moments were of disbelief. Such an adrenaline rush takes days to digest, before you are truly aware of what you have done.
The match scenario was perfect from Barça’s point of view: the big moment came thanks to a boy from Reus, a Catalan town located about an hour’s drive west of Barcelona; a midfielder turned right-back produced by the club’s youth academy.
“It was poetic justice for Roberto,” Lazaro says. “He’s a player who gets a lot of sticks that he doesn’t deserve. Some people seem obsessed (with criticizing him) and I don’t know where that comes from. He is a very important captain for the locker room. He deserves the respect he sometimes didn’t get. That he marked that day was the culmination of our commitment to La Masia.
Barcelona failed to win the Champions League again that year, losing to Juventus 3–0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. But this match alone was celebrated as if it was a winning performance. This match is still remembered as one of the most special. It was the day the club and the people around it put aside fatalism with optimism, magic and faith.
Seven years later, it feels like it’s the last big European night at the club. They haven’t won the Champions League trophy in nine years and defeats to Liverpool, Bayern Munich and PSG themselves are among the damaging results they have suffered in the competition since.
This evening (Tuesday), it is again PSG which receives the visitors. This time, Barça leads 3-2 from last week’s Champions League quarter-final first leg, but PSG are more powerful than in 2017 with Kylian Mbappe in their ranks.
This is a wonderful opportunity to help further heal Barca’s long-standing European trauma. Even if now the optimistic Luis Enrique is in the other dugout.
(Top photo: Getty Images; design: John Bradford)