DThanks to match winner Kylian Mbappe and despite a penalty miss by his superstar Lionel Messi, the star ensemble of Paris Saint-Germain can continue to dream of their first triumph in the Champions League. In the round of 16 against Real Madrid, the French have all the trumps in their hands for the second leg on March 9 after a 1-0 win in the first leg on their own pitch.
England’s champions Manchester City can plan completely carefree for the round of the top eight. Star coach Pep Guardiola’s team offered a show of power in the 5-0 win at Sporting Lisbon.
Real Madrid almost had a satisfying evening too – until Mbappé struck. In the final seconds of the game, the 23-year-old dribbled through Real Madrid’s defense and shot the ball through the legs of strong Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. For almost the entire game, the ball had been moving in one direction for the most part: towards the Spaniards’ goal. PSG possessed the ball for long stretches, but initially failed to overcome the royal defense around Courtois.
Even the multiple world footballer Messi showed nerves in the Prinzenpark. 33 minutes before Mbappé’s winner, Messi’s penalty was denied by Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Mbappe had previously been fouled by Dani Carvajal.
Former world champion Julian Draxler and national player Thilo Kehrer only witnessed the success of Brazilian superstar Neymar’s comeback on the PSG bench. Former national player Tonio Kross was hardly able to set any accents in Real’s team.
Manchester was a size too big for Sporting, who had held their own in the preliminary round against Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. Riyad Mahrez (7th minute), Bernardo Silva (17th, 44th) and Phil Foden (32nd) made everything clear before the break. After the change, Raheem Sterling (58th) followed up shortly before national player Ilkay Gündogan was substituted on.
The German champions Bayern Munich is challenged on Wednesday. Coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team, which was the only team from the Bundesliga quartet that started to survive the preliminary round, has to play for Austrian title holders RB Salzburg. At the same time, the English top club FC Liverpool and his German team manager Jürgen Klopp are guests at Italy’s champions Inter Milan. For the English defending champion and newly crowned club world champion FC Chelsea and his German coach Thomas Tuchel, the first round of 16 duel with the French representative OSC Lille is not on the agenda until next Tuesday.