PARIS: Manchester United wrote yet another remarkable page in their own history by defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in France to reach the Champions League  quarter-finals with the help of two defensive blunders and a stoppage-time penalty courtesy of VAR.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was without 10 senior players and had to dig deep into the academy resources to achieve a victory on away goals (aggregate 3-3) after having lost the first leg 2-0 at home.

United’s players and coaching staff celebrated in delight as PSG’s stars collapsed in disbelief in the Parc des Princes.

No team had ever recovered from a two-goal first leg defeat in the knockout stage since the European Cup evolved into the Champions League in the early 1990s.

In the night’s other tie Porto beat Roma 3-1 and 4-3 on aggregate after extra time. Porto also needed on a late penalty award confirmed by the video assistant and converted by Alex Telles.

Defensive shocker

In Paris Manchester United’s badly-weakened team were gifted the encouragement of a perfect start against Paris Saint-Germain when in-form striker Romelu Lukaku pounced on a defensive error from Thilo Kehrer to round Gianluigi Buffon and score inside two minutes.

United’s joy was short-lived as PSG levelled in the 12th minute. Dani Alves picked out Kylian Mbappe whose fierce right-wing cross was volleyed home by Juan Bernat at the far post.

PSG were enjoying around 80pc of possession and Bernat shot straight at keeper David De Gea when he should have grabbed his second goal of the night. Then Angel Di Maria fired an angled drive inches wide of De Gea’s left-hand upright.

Utterly against the run of play United regained the lead thanks to a mistake from Gigi who was playing in the Champions League before five of the Manchester squad had been born.

A strike from Marcus Rashford was fumbled by the veteran PSG keeper and Lukaku tapped in his sixth goal in three matches.

Spot-kick controversy

PSG began the second half with a display of increased urgency but luck was against them. An offside flag denied Di Maria, Julian Draxler was forced off by a hamstring injury and Bernat hit a post in the 83rd minute after Mbappe on being sent clear.

Heading into the third minute of stoppage time PSG still held the overall lead but then Diego Dalot drove the ball into the penalty box and it deflected for a corner off the right arm of the leaping Presnel Kimpembe who had turned his back on the shot.

Slovene referee Damir Skomina ran to view the incident in his pitchside monitor before awarding the penalty which Marcus Rashford drove up beyond Buffon’s right hand. It was the first penalty Rashford had ever taken for United in a competitive game.

Glory for United, grief for PSG.

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