The French superstar becomes a key figure in France’s smash-hit game against Real Madrid. In the other round of 16 first leg, Manchester City are in gala form at Sporting Lisbon.
The star ensemble from Paris St. Germain has good prospects of reaching the quarter-finals in the Champions League. Superstar Lionel Messi, world champion Kylian Mbappé, who was courted by Real, and their colleagues won the first leg on their own pitch in the round of 16 duel of the giants against Real Madrid, deservedly 1-0 (0-0). This means that PSG has all the trumps in hand for the second leg on March 9 against the royal and ex-national player Toni Kroos.
Mbappé scored the late winner for the French Ligue 1 leaders in the final minute of added time. 33 minutes earlier, Messi’s penalty was denied by Madrid goalkeeper Thibault Courtois. Mbappé was fouled by Dani Carvajal. Real largely left the initiative to the hosts in the first round. Consequently, the French constricted the Spanish record winner several times for a long time in his half, but due to a lack of ideas they could hardly penetrate into Madrid’s penalty area and thus practically didn’t create any compelling chances.
When Mbappé got into the danger zone, Carvajal disrupted the PSG superstar decisively when trying to finish (18th). In Madrid’s midfield, Kroos was unable to provide any relief against the dominant hosts before the break.
After the break, the home side continued to set the tone. But Messi failed from the point. After that, PSG lost their line a bit. The substitution of the Brazilian superstar Neymar, who was used for Paris for the first time since the end of November (72nd), did not initially bring the hoped-for impetus to the hosts. On the PSG bench, ex-world champion Julian Draxler and national player Thilo Kehrer hoped in vain for a late redemption against the Iberians, who defended skillfully and selflessly, before Neymar hung up for Mbappé.
Manchester City in a frenzy
Last year’s finalist Manchester City, meanwhile, pushed the door wide open to the quarter-finals in the Champions League after a show of force. The English champions won their round of 16 first leg at Sporting Lisbon 5-0 (4-0) and impressively underpinned their title ambitions.
Riyad Mahrez (7th), Bernardo Silva (17th, 44th) and Phil Foden (32nd) made everything clear for team manager Pep Guardiola’s team before the break. After the change, Raheem Sterling (58th) followed up. The overwhelmed second in the table from Portugal needs a football miracle in the second duel on March 9th (Wednesday). Sporting prevailed in the preliminary round thanks to the direct comparison they had won against Borussia Dortmund.
Guardiola initially did without Ilkay Gündogan, but the guests dominated as they pleased without the national player. The Portuguese had nothing to counter City’s speed and combinations. In the second half, too, the visitors had everything under control. Gündogan came on as a substitute in the 61st minute.