The capital club passed the hurdle of the round of 16 for the first time since the 2021 edition.
Published
Update
Reading time: 3 min
Mission accomplished for Paris Saint-Germain. Luis Enrique’s players punched their ticket to the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday, March 5, by winning on Real Sociedad (2-1) in the round of 16 second leg. Relying on the margin of two goals drawn in the first leg, PSG finished the job by very quickly dashing the hopes of almost 40,000 Basque supporters. Caught in a new media whirlwind after his exit at half-time in Monaco, Kylian Mbappé recalled that he was a great football player by scoring his team’s two goals (15th, 56th).
First, he was a good starter (and he played 90 minutes), even if his coach deliberately maintained doubts the day before to play games with the journalists. The myriad of questions asked about the situation of the player, whose departure at the end of the season is no longer in doubt, was very quickly relegated to the background by the reality on the ground. Kylian Mbappé only needed fifteen minutes to open the score and seal the deal at the same time. A deep call, a hook to open the angle, a curling shot and PSG opened the scoring.
Before kick-off, the most pessimistic Parisian supporters feared a quick goal from Real which would start a new disaster. Once is not customary, the opposite happened. Better, for the first time since 2016 (an eternity), Paris Saint-Germain won the first leg and second leg of a knockout match in the Champions League. Opposed to an opponent who has never made it past the round of 16 and has been largely disappointing since February (one victory in eight games), PSG has regained the ability to assume its status as favorite on the European scene.
Luis Enrique’s choices rewarded
He didn’t just score the first goal. On the other hand, Kylian Mbappé went for his special, running behind the defense, arriving in front of the goalkeeper and striking with a closed foot at the last moment. His 40th goal in the most prestigious European competition with PSG (60 appearances). It was only after taking the break that the capital club suffered some scares. After a goal canceled for offside from the incoming Ander Barrenetxea (64th), a point blank shot from Benat Turrientes miraculously repelled by Gianluigi Donnarumma (79th), the Txuri-Urdin saved the honor with a volley from Mikel Merino at the end of the match (89th).
Nothing to spoil the evening. Luis Enrique will almost only have reasons for satisfaction at the end of the evening. His starting lineup was, however, the youngest in the history of the capital club in C1 (23 years and 361 days on average) and the 100% left-handed and 100% Lucas hinge (Hernandez and Beraldo) was unprecedented. The only bad news of the evening will remain the yellow card collected by Achraf Hakimi, who will be suspended for the quarter-final first leg, scheduled for April 9 or 10. All that remains is to know the identity of the Parisians’ future opponent. Only one of the seven contenders is currently known, in this case Bayern Munich, winner of Lazio.