– Bayern and AC Milan set foot in quarter-finals
The defending champions of Germany and that of Italy took the measure of PSG and Tottenham on the smallest of margins (1-0), in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League.
Paris is apathetic: powerless once morest Bayern Munich (0-1) despite the ghost Kylian Mbappé, PSG placed themselves in a delicate situation on Tuesday in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, sinking into crisis … Quite the opposite of AC Milan, perked up once morest Tottenham (1-0).
That’s three defeats in a row for the Parisians and this one hurts the capital club very badly. Nothing is decided before the return match in Munich on March 8, but the Parisians got themselves into trouble by losing at the Parc des Princes, reviving the worst nightmares of the French champions club, that of a new early elimination in this competition that he covets so much.
Paris crucified by Coman
How to explain that a team accumulating so many stars and tinsel can deliver such a dull score … until the last ten minutes, where Paris pushed, in vain, without managing to equalize? The entry on the hour mark of Mbappé, who returned early from injury, was not enough to snatch the draw, his goal having been canceled for a prior offside by Nuno Mendes (81st). Ditto for the exclusion of Munich defender Benjamin Pavard for a second yellow card (90th + 2), at the end of the match where Paris was pushing.
In the end, there is only one disbursement goal before the second leg but Christophe Galtier’s PSG has long shown a very timid face, withdrawn into its surface, almost unheard of for this PSG of the Qatari era during of a Champions League match. But the Parisian players probably needed to be reassured following their recent underperformance. Result, Bayern has long revolved around the Parisian surface, multiplying the banderillas. And PSG, which started the very young Warren Zaire-Emery (16), had to wait for additional time in the first period to record their first strike of the match (45th + 2), a free kick from Messi into the wall!
Logically, Bayern ended up finding the fault: forgotten at the far post on a cross from Alphonso Davies, Kingsley Coman scored with a flat foot (53rd) and refused to celebrate, he the player trained at PSG. The Bavarians even had opportunities to knock out the Parisians (61st, 63rd, 64th), saved each time by their goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.
In this contrary scenario, Galtier had no choice but to launch Mbappé. The Bondy striker had a few flashes, like this supersonic breakthrough (74th), but his revolt was not contagious enough. And here is the PSG brought back to its demons, a year following its cruel elimination in the round of 16 by Real Madrid (1-0, 1-3) … The three weeks until Munich will be long.
Milan strikes from the start
In the other match of the evening, an opportunistic goal from the Spaniard Brahim Diaz was enough to delight AC Milan, who took the lead once morest Tottenham following only seven minutes of play: the French side Theo Hernandez, captain , snatched a ball from the duel in the area before seeing his strike repelled by the goalkeeper on Diaz, scorer with a diving header. Enough to restore confidence in San Siro, who pushed his team despite the reaction of Spurs.
On one of Tottenham’s best chances, Son Heung-min pierced through the middle and found the Milan goalkeeper’s gloves, before captain Harry Kane’s header found the crossbar (45th)… and the action is canceled for a prior offside.
The rest of the match did not allow the Spurs to come back, bringing the Milanese, seven times winners of the C1, closer to the quarter-finals of the European queen event for the first time since 2012… A series which might finally reach its end.
AFP
You found an error?Please let us know.