In the Parc des Princes, in Paris, last week’s draw was repeated in Estádio da Luz (1-1). With Juventus’ defeat in Israel to Maccabi Haifa (0-2), PSG and Benfica knew that winning was enough to qualify for the round of 16, but again the two teams canceled each other and postponed decisions. the next trip (see table). Encarnados remains unbeaten this season, after 17 games (14 wins and three draws).
Paris woke up stunned yesterday by the news of Kylian Mbappe’s discontent, who will have informed PSG of his desire to leave the club in January – five months after the extension until 2024 and become the highest paid in the world. One of the reasons is to get frustrated because he didn’t perform as well as a central striker (instead of falling to the left wing)…exactly the position he was used in yesterday by Christophe Galtier. Even without the injured Lionel Messi, the coach bet on keeping the tactics – played Sarabia – rather than going at the will and moving Mbappe to the left. Something he did during the game and in a natural way, creating imbalances.
The first quarter of the game was highly contested in midfield, with both teams knocking each other out as if it were a game of chess at a board where Enzo and Florentino looked into the eyes of Verrati and Vitinha. But when the French found space between Bah and António Silva, everything changed. In the 38th minute, Benfica’s young centre-back arrived late and Bernat attacked in the area, giving Mbappé the chance to advance PSG and become the team’s top scorer in the league (32 goals).
The Paris goal didn’t erase the eagles’ personality, but the surprise effect of the bet on Fredrik Aursnes on the wing – Roger Schmitd changed the starting XI for the first time in this Champions League – faded and Rafa only managed to finish in the end. of the first half to show that speed could be a weapon for the second half.
Again the 11 meters…
Trailing a goal in Paris, the Reds came back with more daring and daring means for the second half looking for a draw. And that’s what happened, after Mbappe gave the thrill of a goal, with an arch shot reminiscent of the one Messi scored at Luz a week ago. Verratti stepped on Rafa in the area and João Mário went to 11 meters to perfectly fool Donnarumma and make the 1-1. The midfielder is the official penalty taker of the red team and has already scored as many goals this season as in the total of the last two (six).
Realizing that Bah was not up to date (except for António Silva, who took on Mbappe’s dance yesterday), Schmidt replaced him with Gilberto, but the right aisle game continued without flowing. On the other hand, the “brain” Vitinha did not find the match with the same foresight and Paris SG lived on the qualities of Neymar and Mbappe (who had a goal disallowed for offside, almost 90 minutes).
And so the tie held, and both started close to qualifying for eighth. In the next round, by beating Juventus, Benfica qualifies, and the draw can come as long as Maccabi doesn’t beat Haifa Paris SG.
Source: DN
