5️⃣ things we learned from Tuesday's UCL quarter-final action .

There was lots to play for ahead of the 2024/25 Champions League quarter-final second legs, and some heroic comebacks were staged in two thrilling games on Tuesday evening.

Here are five takeaways from two high-scoring games on Tuesday.

Barcelona end their UCL semi-final drought.

Barcelona will play their first Champions League semi-final since 2019, after defeating Borussia Dortmund 5-3 on aggregate.

The LaLiga giants performed the heavy work in the first leg, securing a crucial 4-0 victory in Catalonia last week.

Hansi Flick's team surrendered two goals against an in-form Guirassy before Ramy Bensebaini's own goal gave the Blaugrana breathing room once more.

Barcelona have advanced to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2018/19. Barcelona are back.

Barça were far from their best, conceding another Guirassy goal late on, but they were able to hold on for the victory and go to the semifinals.

This result interrupted Barcelona's 24-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, but Flick's men are likely to see this as a blip rather than a cause for concern in what has been a prolific season thus far.

PSG defenders do the business.

PSG took a 2-0 lead at Villa Park after just 28 minutes thanks to two marauding defenders who have received numerous accolades in the Champions League this season.

Achraf Hakimi took advantage of Emiliano Martínez's missed save to give the Ligue 1 champions the lead.

Achraf Hakimi, PSG's right-back, has contributed more UCL goals than any other defender this season. Nuno Mendes, left-back for PSG, is not far behind (five).

Just 17 minutes later, Nuno Mendes moved away from his preferred wide position, toward the centre of the pitch, and blasted in from the edge to give PSG a 5-1 aggregate lead.

It's apparent that Luis Enrique has recently released all of his players' offensive potential, not only top scorer Ousmane Dembélé and striker Bradley Barcola.

Whoever PSG faces in the semi-finals may be more worried with stopping Hakimi and Mendes than with Les Parisens' best players.

Emery’s Villa nearly achieved the impossible.

Despite being 2-0 down early in the second leg against PSG, there was never a sense of foreboding at Villa Park.

With each offensive attack, the home audience rose to their feet, hoping to pull off one of the most implausible comebacks in European football after falling behind 5-1 on aggregate.

From 2-0 down, Villa now leads 3-2 on the night! What a start to the second half! PSG leads 5-4 on aggregate, but the hosts have the momentum.

Unai Emery's team definitely gave it their all, and Youri Tielemans equalized for the Midlands outfit before halftime, paving the way for a thrilling second half.

Villa came out of halftime with fresh energy, and returning captain John McGinn beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a dipping strike from 20 yards.

In an electrifying two minutes, Ezri Konsa scored from Marcus Rashford's cut-back, and the Villans came close to tying on aggregate numerous times, but incredible Donnarumma heroics ended Villa's exciting European adventure.

Rashford enjoys playing against PSG.

Four months ago, few anticipated Marcus Rashford to run circuits around PSG in the Champions League quarterfinals.

However, the Manchester United loanee has returned to his peak form in recent weeks, and he continued his upward trend with an outstanding second-half performance that played a major role in Villa's near-comeback against Les Parisiens.

The English attacker showed hints of his previous self, who tormented PSG for United in the 2018/19 and 2020/21 Champions Leagues, setting up Ezri Konsa for Villa's game-winning third goal.

Marcus Rashford has personally contributed to five Champions League goals against PSG, two more than he has against any other club. What a help.

However, Rashford's assist demonstrated his current level of confidence.

After controlling a loose ball on the right flank, the 27-year-old effortlessly jinked past two PSG players before picking up Konsa in a crowded penalty area.

Rashford is the man of the moment, and he continues to demonstrate his ability to compete with the best in a revived campaign.

Serhou Guirassy can hold his head up.

When Serhou Guirassy clipped in a beautiful panneka against Barcelona, there were tiny hopes at the Westfalenstadion that Dortmund would pull off the most unexpected of comebacks.

With an exceptional goalscorer like Guirassy on their roster, Dortmund fans would be justified in believing the unimaginable, especially when the Guinea striker headed in his second of the evening after halftime and completed his hat-trick with 14 minutes remaining.

Serhou Guirassy is the highest-scoring Borussia Dortmund player in a Champions League season.

Guirassy's efforts were ultimately futile, as Dortmund's job of overturning a 4-0 defeat against Barcelona in the first leg proved just too much.

Despite an earlier-than-expected elimination from the Champions League, Guirassy has been one of the competition's standout players, scoring 13 goals in only 13 matches.

The 29-year-old has had a great solo campaign, surpassing some Dortmund legends in Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski to become the highest-ever Dortmund scorer in a single UCL campaign (although in the tournament's first enlarged form).