“It’s a Heartache”, it’s a heartache. This Tuesday, February 14, Valentine’s Day, Bonnie Tyler’s song – at least a revisited version – was sung at the top of the lungs by the supporters of the Auteuil stand, when the English referee Michael Oliver gave the kick sending off the second period of the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League (C1) between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Bayern Munich.
A premonitory musical choice: eight minutes later, Kingsley Coman calmed the heat of the Parc des Princes, scoring with a volley the first and only goal of a meeting until then sluggish. Kingsley Coman, the former “titi”, born in the capital and trained at PSG. Kingsley Coman, the player who scored the only goal, again, in the C1 final lost in 2020 by the Parisians.
A small blow to the heart, but not enough to drown in an ocean of tears. The Auteuil stand is then content to change the disc: it saw Kylian Mbappé start to warm up on the edge of the lawn. The providential man who had been announced, for a time, unavailable after a thigh injury. The top scorer of the World Cup in Qatar too, who was, before the meeting of the day, co-top scorer of this edition of the Champions League with Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah (seven goals in six games).
Entered at 57e minute, Mbappé did not change the outcome of the match, won 1-0 by the Bavarians, but he had the merit of waking up his troops: in the first half, PSG had not fired once; he finished the second with nine attempts on the clock, including four on target. The striker even found the net twice (74e ; 82e), but his goals were disallowed on offside.
“I wasn’t supposed to play, I wanted to help my friends, bring energy. We tried everything, we worked day and night and I was able to play a game.”, explained number 7 to the microphone of Canal + at the final whistle. From this evening, Kylian Mbappé especially wants to remember ” the end “to better plan for the future: the return match, March 8, at the Allianz Arena.
Yes, he concedes, PSG lost. Yes, PSG will be in unfavorable waivers. ” But we saw that we were able to put them in difficulty, all our players must be in good health and go there to win at home and qualify. »
“We were the better team today, but there is a second step to take in Munichrecognizes Julian Nagelsmann, Bayern coach. We were dominant and we were more aggressive. The statistics were for us and we could have scored a second or a third goal. »
His training approaches the second act of the eighth on his land with a renewed confidence. Still, the technician knows that he will have to compose, this time, with a 100% Mbappé. ” Kylian Mbappé can change any game. PSG with him is better than without. But we will have good ideas to counter it ”he promises.
Limit breakage
The return of the Champions League after a three-month hiatus due to the World Cup looked like a cleaver for the Parisians. Christophe Galtier’s men will have managed to limit the breakage that was promised to them against the German champion. A Bayern which has lost only one meeting this season – in Augsburg (1-0), September 17, 2022, in the Bundesliga – and is riding a series of 19 games without defeat.
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Because if PSG is still at the top of Ligue 1, it has been struggling since the resumption of competition at the end of December 2022. The club now only has a 5-point lead over its runner-up, Olympique de Marseille (OM) – qu he will return to the league on February 26. The Parisians, who had not experienced a single setback in the first part of the season, were upgraded to Ligue 1 by Lens, Rennes and Monaco. They were also taken out of the Coupe de France by their great rivals Marseille. As for their victories, four of the five gleaned in the last ten meetings have been at the expense of teams in difficulty in the league or small teams in the Coupe de France.
Not to the best effect for a club with a five-star cast, whose slogan is ” Dream bigger “, and who intends to play the leading roles in the European football elite. In the locker room, the atmosphere would be explosive and the discontent is rising among the supporters. This Tuesday however, despite the defeat, the players were warmly applauded by the Parc des Princes.
Three weeks before the return match, a little familiar music is still beginning to resonate: that of premature exits from the queen competition of European football. In 2017, PSG were eliminated in the round of 16, after largely winning their home match (4-0), before collapsing (6-1) in Barcelona. Two years later, rebelote: victorious in the first act (2-0) on the lawn of Manchester United, the Ile-de-France residents lost on the return (3-1). Last year, finally, Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick for Real Madrid in less than twenty minutes, while PSG collapsed in the second half; he had yet won the first leg. The humiliation is still in everyone’s head.
Will Kylian Mbappé and his teammates see the quarter-finals of this edition? This time, the game seems to be off to a bad start, but that’s forgetting that the capital’s club has accustomed its supporters to the worst… as well as the best. “The players spoke after the match and I also spoke to tell them that if we have the ability to have the same face as in the last half hour [de la rencontre de ce mardi]there will be hope”, argued Christophe Galtier. And the Parisian coach to recall: “Tonight, there is no eliminated, no qualified. »