After securing an emphatic 4-1 win at Camp Nou in the first leg, the Parisians had all but qualified for the next round of the competition and only needed to protect their lead coming into the second leg.
Kylian Mbappe put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot on 30 minutes, but Lionel Messi pulled parity with a long-range strike seven minutes later.
Barcelona had the chance to take the lead on the cusp of halftime when English referee Anthony Taylor handed them a penalty after a foul on Antoine Griezmann inside the area but goalkeeper Keylor Navas saved Messi’s effort.
The Parisians remained compact after the break to keep Barcelona from any chance of mounting a comeback as the game ended in a stalemate.
“We suffered in the first half. We struggled to get the first pass away. Psychologically, it was a form of test. Here I understood that we speak a lot about the past, about psychology,” Pochettino said after the game.
“I think that we responded well at half-time. In the second half, we showed another side of ourselves and we were more competitive.”
“What is clear is that in the 1st half we thought about things too much. We gambled, we thought too much and we did not think about playing.
“We thought too much about this qualification. That is what I said to them, to think about the game and to forget the negative influences. I am happy that we have changed things and now we have qualified for the quarter finals and showed up.”
