More conquering than in its last outing, the capital club took three crucial points in its objective of qualifying for the round of 16 of the competition, after its victory (3-0) on Wednesday.
Paris is moving forward in the Champions League. The capital club largely dominated AC Milan (3-0) on Wednesday October 25, three weeks after its disaster in Newcastle. In diesel mode, Luis Enrique’s players accomplished their mission. They regain the lead in Group F, with 6 points, taking advantage of Newcastle’s misstep against Borussia Dortmund (0-1). Halfway through the group stage, the situation is favorable with a view to qualifying for the round of 16.
Without much surprise, Kylian Mbappé showed the way. The Parisian star took responsibility after 30 minutes of play, in a special way: acceleration, framing the defender, hitting the ground with his foot closed (32nd). A 10th goal in 11 matches with the capital club this season for the captain of the Blues, boosted by the international break (3 goals with the France team). A goal that he owes to a cheeky breakthrough from young Warren Zaire-Emery (17), already a decisive passer at Newcastle, and author of an exceptional performance (named man of the match by UEFA) when he was returning from injury.
The Ultras get involved
Contrary to what the final score might suggest, PSG did not have a completely restful evening. Luis Enrique’s players experienced a very complicated fifteen minutes in the heart of the first period, experiencing enormous difficulty in getting out of their camp against the Milanese pressure. But they got away with a perfect ending. Three points, no goals conceded, and above all confidence gained for Randal Kolo Muani, opportunistic scorer in the second half (53rd), as well as for Kang-In Lee, author of his very first goal with PSG thanks to an entry into convincing game (89th).
During this choppy meeting, with the game constantly interrupted by mistakes, the spectacle in the stands sometimes took over, thanks to a particularly active Auteuil corner. First present to cover the Milanese whistles against Gianluigi Donnarumma during the warm-up. Then, he deployed a large tifo paying tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo just before kick-off. Above all, we will remember these banners deployed just before the break in a much more serious tone: “Middle East: may all innocent victims rest in peace. War crime in Gaza, what is the international community doing? Paris against all forms of terrorism”. In addition to this strong position, the PSG Ultras also wanted to pay tribute to Professor Dominique Bernard, killed during the Arras attack: “Don’t touch my national education”.
An extremely rare scene in previous seasons, all of the players from the capital club came to greet Virage Auteuil after the final whistle. Luis Enrique talked about the match “turning”. It is perhaps not only on the sporting level. There are still three group stage matches to play for the PSG players, who will only pass through the Parc des Princes once, against Newcastle on November 28. For now, the next meeting in their diary is Sunday, in Brest, on the occasion of the 10th day of Ligue 1.