It was the comeback to end all comebacks. A comeback secured in stoppage time. And a comeback that was tinged in controversy with the most dramatic of VAR decisions.
The game was on a knife edge, one Paris Saint-Germain goal and it was game over for Manchester United, while Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side needed to score once to go through.
As the clock ticked into stoppage time, VAR took center stage and referee Damir Skomina awarded United a penalty.
Marcus Rashford stepped up confidently, seemingly the calmest man inside the Parc des Princes stadium and slammed the ball high into the top corner.
As Rashford and the United players celebrated wildly, PSG fans began to relive their worst nightmare.
Manchester United players celebrate Marcus Rashford’s last-gasp penalty.
Two seasons ago, the French side led Barcelona 4-0 after the first leg in Paris but contrived to throw away the tie in one of the all-time great Champions League chokes, losing 6-1 at the Camp Nou.
Many questioned whether that traumatic elimination would continue to haunt this side as it attempted to defend the 2-0 lead earned in Manchester three weeks ago.
Those demons began to resurface at the Parc de Princes inside two minutes, after Thilo Kehrer’s error was capitalized upon by Romelu Lukaku.
Juan Bernat drew PSG level 10 minutes later after good work by Kylian Mbappe but an error from the unlikeliest of sources gifted United a lifeline.
Gianluigi Buffon — one of the players PSG bought in an attempt to win the Champions League title it craves so much — spilled Rashford’s fizzing shot into the path of Lukaku, who passed the rebound into the net.
