PSG 1-0 Real Madrid (Mbappe ’94)
Kylian Mbappe’s march on Madrid is inexorable; he has taken the game to his potential new employers in a Champions League last-16 tie which had the feel of a routine Parc des Princes rout. The question, of course, is whether Mbappe will arrive at Real this summer (if indeed he does move to the Bernabeu as is widely expected) in order to win the Champions League, or as a winner.
It is the trophy which has eluded Paris Saint-Germain – it has eluded him too, if that statement can reasonably be made of a 23-year-old. Perhaps not for much longer, as he seared a shot into the far corner past Thibaut Courtois deep into injury time.
Nor will he be left wanting if his terrorising of Dani Carvajal is to be repeated throughout the knockout stages. Had Courtois not guessed right to keep out Lionel Messi’s penalty, the creaks of Carvajal’s ageing legs hauling down Mbappe might have been the moment that defined the match.
Instead, he left it to his piercing pace in the 94th minute. Real Madrid cannot say he didn’t warn them. He had offered them a brief hiatus when he had been moved flanks, but that was a ceasefire not a truce. Even then, Courtois’ reflexes had to be in full swing to keep him out.
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Carlo Ancelotti’s whole approach relied on them being so. The abolition of the away goals rule has its merits, as extolled by Alexander Ceferin, but it will also allow for more nights like this. A fearful Real Madrid is an unnerving sight, their low block keeping the scores level for so long but allowing Marco Verratti to dominate in midfield as Toni Kroos and Luka Modric struggled to find their rhythm.
Verratti’s only moment of weakness came with a touch of inevitability. Casemiro struck first, up-ending Leandro Paredes in the middle of the park and ruling himself out of the second leg (Ferland Mendy will be out too). As night follows day, Verratti soon earned a yellow of his own. It’s hoped, at least, that the Italian will be fit for the 9 March date, having been felled with a kick to the underside of his foot.
There was a mini-scare to Mbappe too, though his biggest dip in sparkle came when to facilitate Neymar’s introduction, Angel Di Maria came off and the youngest of the trio was forced onto the right. David Alaba had more joy than Carvajal in subduing him, though Courtois will have been grateful that one fizzing shot drifted past a post which he hadn’t covered.
Across the continent in Lisbon, Manchester City were making a more emphatic statement, but this was a marker laid down by the Ligue 1 leaders – though ironically, it is Real Madrid who will leave Paris the happier of the two.
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Player ratings
PSG
- Donnarumma – 6
- Hakimi – 7
- Marquinhos – 7
- Kimpembe – 6
- Mendes – 7
- Pereira – 7
- Paredes – 7
- Verratti – 8
- Di Maria – 6
- Messi – 7
- Mbappe – 9
Substitutes:
- Neymar – 7
- Gueye – 6
Real Madrid
- Courtois – 8
- Carvajal – 4
- Militao – 7
- Alaba – 7
- Mendy – 5
- Modric – 6
- Casemiro – 6
- Kroos – 5
- Asensio – 5
- Benzema – 6
- Junior – 6
Substitutes:
- Vazquez – 6
- Rodrygo – 6
- Hazard – 6
- Valverde – 6
- Bale – N/A
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/6j89Psv
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