Benfica drew 1-1 tonight with PSG in a game in which Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, despite being stars, did not take the shine off Roger Schmidt’s team. The Argentine continued to score, but an own goal by Portuguese defender Danilo took both teams out of the match with a point. Thus, the equality between Lisbon and Paris is maintained: seven points in Group H of the Champions League, with an advantage over PSG in terms of the number of goals scored.
It is not every day that you can see Messi, Neymar and Mbappé play at the same time, and this reality did not go unnoticed by many of those who attended the Estádio da Luz this afternoon. With mobile in hand, from the warm-up of the teams, there were those who wanted to capture as much as possible of the fearsome Parisian attacking trio. But there were also those who did not want them to forget that, tonight, in Lisbon, they were the visitors: thus, the dose of whistles was also served first thing in the morning.
In goal, Donnarumma, another rising star, was also soon called up to play. After seven minutes, Gonçalo Ramos ran, isolated, towards him after a pass from behind by Marquinhos.
He repeated the feat in the 20th minute, when Neres appeared on the edge of the small area and finished off what seemed like an accurate goal. But the Italian’s left arm deflected the ball.
Now, once the goal was secured, the Parisians let go. In a move built on the first touch, Messi gave it to Mbappé, who gave it to Neymar, who shot Messi. The triangulation put the Argentine to appear at the entrance of the penalty area, collapsed on the right. With his left foot, he spread his body open and finished with style. Vlachodimos flew well, but only saw the ball into the back of the net.
Despite Benfica’s good performance -they did not enter the field in fear-, the eagles could do little to avoid the first goal of the night which, naturally, gave PSG another peace of mind: the ball from the thread of the game began to leave. take shape Parisians. First-touch passes, positional exchanges, Hakimi and Nuno Mendes even more aggressive in positioning.
And after almost 15 minutes of great pressure, when they managed to get away, the Reds were even close to scoring again: Neres worked very well inside the area and managed to pass the ball to António Silva who, in a kind of moving penalty, saw Donnarumma prevent the goal again. But the Italian could not stop everything.
In minute 41, Enzo worked well down the left wing of Benfica’s attack and took out a poisoned cross -one of those that could only enter the goal- to the second post, where Gonçalo Ramos was. The Portuguese put the ball in enough to betray Danilo and the compatriot ended up making the lethal deflection for the tie. From there to the break it was a small jump.
The second half began with more beautiful football, courtesy of Neymar. After some good work by Hakimi and a save by Vlachodimos, the ball bounced off Neymar. The Brazilian, with his back to the goal, did what he liked the most: a bicycle kick that hit the post.
Parisian pressure began to build up again. Vlachodimos was called upon to intervene again in the 60th minute and again denied Hakimi the goal. On the Red side, the response to that pressure was the controlled exit of João Mário, who tonight ended up being the first to win the game so that Rafa could accelerate in transitions.
And speaking of speed, Mbappé, the terrible baby from PSG, seemed slow to appear in the game. Despite having intervened in Messi’s goal, the Frenchman ended up isolated from the rest of the team several times and, perhaps for this reason, in the 68th minute he tried to kick his performance: from outside the area, he forced Vlachodimos Volando. .
Schmidt waited the last 15 minutes of the game to change teams and opted to launch an old acquaintance of the Parisians -Draxler-, who joined Aursnes. Gonçalo Ramos and Enzo Fernández left to make room for them. At PSG the only substitution had been forced: Nuno Mendes left injured, Bernat came on.
I was starting to get some inspiration to try to solve the game. And the initiative fell on Rafa. The Portuguese started in 79′, slipped through the Parisian defense and, already inside the penalty area, managed to finish off the goal. Donnarumma defended first, then the Portuguese forward shot wide on the rebound. It was played to settle the game, but it did not happen. And PSG took care of the expenses of the last five minutes of the game.
It was Neymar. It was Vitina. It was Sarabia, who had already replaced Messi. It was more and more Mbappé. But it was also more and more Vlachodimos, and they were, as they have been, Otamendi and António Silva showing that tonight, at Luz, no more ball went into the goal. And so it was: in the end, 1-1.
In the other group H game, this afternoon, Juventus beat Maccabi Haifa 3-1 and added the first points in this edition of the Champions League.
Eleven from Benfica: Vlachodimos, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo, Florentino, Enzo Fernández, David Neres, João Mário, Rafa and Gonçalo Ramos
PSG XI: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Danilo, Ramos, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Verratti, Vitinha, Mbappé, Neymar and Messi
PSG were unable to count on Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches, trained at Benfica, due to injury. The match was refereed by the Spanish Jesús Gil Manzano, assisted by Diego Barbero and Ángel Nevado. In the VAR was Alejandro Hernández.
Benfica Substitutes: Helton Leite, Gilberto, Aursnes, Diogo Gonçalves, Rodrigo Pinho, Chiquinho, Ristic, Brooks, Gil Dias, Petar Musa, João Victor, Draxler
PSG substitutes: Keylor Navas, Rico, Fabián Ruiz, Bernat, Pablo Sarabia, Mukiele, Soler, Bitshiabu, Zaire-Emery and Ekitike
Source: TSF
