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10 craziest moments from 2nd half of Barcelona's mesmerising comeback

Reuters / Albert Gea

The opening stanza in Wednesday's absurd match set the stage, but it was the second 45 minutes (or 50, as it were) that elevated this encounter from exciting to historic. Six-one to Barcelona. Six-five on aggregate. Sergi Roberto's goal will be etched in the mind, and heart, forever, but his tally would have counted for nothing without a collection of wild incidents that preceded it.

Here, in chronological order, we present the most memorable moments from a remarkable half of football that helped Barcelona pull off the most astonishing Champions League comeback of all time.

Related: The numbers behind Barcelona's incredible feat to topple PSG

48th minute: Meunier tackles Neymar with his head

Phil Jones surely shed a tear over this incident.

Barcelona's comeback went from a hopeful dream to a realistic possibility when Belgian right-back Thomas Meunier was bamboozled by the craft and incisiveness of magical midfielder Andres Iniesta.

The veteran Spaniard's exquisite pass - one only maybe a handful of players in the world could produce with such inch-perfect weight - had the Paris Saint-Germain defender scrambling. In turning his body to chase an advancing Neymar who was set to receive the ball, Meunier stumbled, and crumbled face-first to the turf. Neymar likely could have gone around him, but cleverley allowed himself to trip over the head of his adversary.

Penalty to Barcelona; referee Deniz Aytekin initially didn't award the spot kick, but gave it after a quick consult with the official behind the goal. Lionel Messi promptly stepped up and rifled a rocket into the net.

Three-nil. Comeback (legitimately) on.

52nd minute: Cavani smacks post in near-immediate response

Conventional wisdom suggested PSG should buckle at this point, with momentum belonging exclusively to the home side. In reality, it was the French club that reacted best to Messi's arrowed penalty.

Roughly 120 seconds after the Argentine's goal, Edinson Cavani smacked the base of Marc-Andre ter Stegen's left post with a sliding effort after some excellent work by the otherwise beleaguered Meunier down the wing.

A sign of things to come.

62nd minute: Cavani's thunderous goal silences Camp Nou

After a brief lull, PSG and manager Unai Emery finally found their away goal; a lobbed free-kick was met by Layvin Kurzawa, with the young left-back leaping to knock a header back down into Cavani's path.

The long-haired Uruguayan, on fire this season, instinctively walloped the ball into the roof of the net with a sweet swing of his right foot. With the vaunted away goal in tow, PSG looked in complete control.

64th minute: Cavani's one-on-one stopped by Ter Stegen

Cavani had a chance to add to his thumping strike when, just two minutes later, he was sent clean through on Ter Stegen - a second goal, so quickly after his first, would surely have seen the tie tucked away and put to bed.

Instead, the German netminder kicked out his left leg to stymie the PSG frontman. Barcelona, needing three goals at this point, still had the faintest of hopes.

66th minute: Turan's goal-bound effort cleared off the line

It's a mere footnote now, but when substitute Arda Turan's low shot was hacked away off the line by a retreating Marquinhos, Blaugrana supporters surely must have thought it wasn't going to happen.

Related - Si se puede: How belief, and some luck, helped Barcelona make history

To make matters worse, Luis Suarez was booked for a pitiful dive some 60 seconds later. It was all going against the Catalan giant. The optimism, muted at first before rising to a legitimate expectation, was deteriorating with each passing minute and each Barcelona attack that didn't find the back of the net.

85th minute: Di Maria squanders breakaway to seal it

Because of its proximity to the preposterous events of the final minutes, this will be the opportunity Paris Saint-Germain looks back on - potentially for years to come - with a melancholy "what if?"

With nothing between him and Ter Stegen but perfectly manicured blades of grass, Angel Di Maria was unable to replicate his first-leg heroics; the Argentine, who netted a brace when the two sides met in the French capital, waited too long, and ultimately produced a weak, chopped effort that sailed harmlessly wide.

There were loud shouts from the PSG bench, as a chasing Javier Mascherano seemed to clip Di Maria's heel as he got the shot away, but those penalty protestations were waived away.

88th minute: Neymar's gorgeous free-kick offers glimmer of hope

And now it begins. This is the moment that set the stage for all hell to break loose in Catalonia.

Neymar, the best player on the pitch by some distance, took control of the contest in the final seven minutes, bending in a sumptuous free-kick from an angle he had no business shooting from.

When the ball struck the mesh, it was almost cruel on Barcelona; this beautiful goal, you felt, would serve only to tease the Catalan club and its fans. It would bring them that much closer to euphoria, but surely it wasn't going to happen, so why bother celebrating it. Two more were still needed with a mere 120 seconds remaining in regular time.

Surely it couldn't happen ...

90th minute: Did Suarez dive again?

Suarez, already booked for an ugly attempt to win a penalty earlier in the half, was on the other end of the call this time, as Messi's aerial pass over the PSG backline saw the Uruguayan hit the turf under the slightest possible contact from Marquinhos.

The referee pointed directly to the spot without hesitation this time, though, and Neymar assumed responsibility, using his trademark stutter-step run-up to send Kevin Trapp the wrong way. Five-one. Five-five on aggregate.

The emotional roller coaster, which twisted and turned, oscillating from despair to optimism multiple times within the match, now reached a new height: unbridled hope.

Now, again, the comeback was real.

95th minute: Ter Stegen gets forward, wins vital free-kick

Ter Stegen's excellent kick save mentioned earlier will go down as a vital moment, but his greatest contribution to Wednesday's breathless turnaround was surely an attacking one. Fitting, really, for a goalkeeper lauded for his abilities with the ball at his feet.

The German, pushed forward in injury time as Barca searched frantically for the goal that would clinch a quarter-final berth, was the one to win a loose ball after Marco Verratti had made a sliding challenge in midfield. His retention proved enormous, as Verratti, in a wild, desperate, tired lunge, proceeded to foul Ter Stegen, giving Barcelona one final chance to pull off the impossible.

Neymar's initial cross was cleared away, but the ball fell back at his feet; a quick feint and an inviting dink into the area later, and the moment arose for an unlikely hero to be born ...

95th minute: Roberto sends Camp Nou into raptures

The clock read 94:39 when Sergi Roberto stretched out to poke Neymar's chip into the net and score one of the most iconic Champions League goals ever. An instant classic that will be a fixture in montages forever.

Six-one on the night. Six-five on aggregate. Barcelona did it. Truly the wildest moment in a match rife with them, and the one, more than any other, that will never be forgotten.

Related: Where does Barcelona's win rank among greatest Champions League comebacks?

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