Bayern Munich and Milan take a juicy booty for the second leg with their victories against PSG in Paris (0-1) and Tottenham at San Siro (1-0).
He Bayern Munich exacerbated the crisis Paris Saint-Germaindominated in the game and on the scoreboard with a goal from Kingsley Coman in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League, sentenced to a great feat in the second leg in Germany so as not to compromise his season.
only the output of Kylian Mbappemiraculously recovered from his injury a week ahead of schedule, seemed to give encouragement to the Frenchwho can hold on to the strength of their number 7 for any hope of qualifying.
The French forward revolutionized his team, had two good chances, scored a goal disallowed by VAR for offside and allowed Leo Messi to have a great chance that Benjamin Pavard deflected.
Mbappé’s half hour of play washed the face of Christophe Galtier’s teamwhich had been submerged andIn the Bayern game, imperial in the first half with total dominancebut with little scoring ability, who in the second half scored a goal and found himself with a great Gianlugi Donnarumma who avoided further humiliation.
The Germans managed to survive Hurricane Mbappé and take a victory from the Parque de los Príncipes that leaves them in a good position to reach the quarterfinals for the tenth time in the last eleven years.
Bayern came out with more desire to win the duel, installed high pressure and moved to the French area, where most of the first half took place.
indefatigable under pressure, Julian Nagelsmann’s men forced PSG to bail out water with suffocating pressure that left Leo Messi and Neymar off the hook, disconnected from the game, far from the danger zone.
With an incisive Cancelo on the right and Coman on the left, the Germans brought danger to the locals’ goal, although they lacked success in the last stretch to deserve the goal.
Chuopo-Moting had some approach and Coman tried it from afar at minute 25 too easy for Donnarumma, who had to use more at minute 43 after a shot from Kimmich that forced the Italian goalkeeper to use it.
PSG only encouraged their parish with some acceleration from Messi or Neymar, but both were too far from the danger zone and hardly disturbed the German defense. With time up to go to the break, Messi had a good free kick 30 meters from Sommer’s area, but his shot crashed into the wall.
Bayern marked the locker room with nine shots in their favor and only one against, the worst offensive first half in Europe for PSG since 2016.
Coming out of the showers, the French accelerated, spurred on by the image of their leader Kylian Mbappé, who was beginning to warm up, but his effort was submerged by Bayern’s counterattack.
Alphonso Davieswho had replaced Cancelo at the break, served the far post so that Coman, with the inside of his foot, shot on goal and, with the complicity of Donnarumma, opened the scoring at minute 53.
The Frenchman, trained at PSG, the same one who scored the winning goal in the 2020 Lisbon final, did not celebrate the goal that did justice to what had been seen on the field.
The goal was the signal for Mbappé to jump onto the field, but his departure did little to change the appearance of the team, which became even more trapped in the German nets.
Kimmich, owner and lord of the midfield, continued to dictate the tempo of the duel and Bayern was more incisive. PSG was saved from the rout thanks to three excellent interventions by Donnaruma in just three minutes, shots by Choupo-Moting on two occasions, one of them deflected to the post by the Italian goalkeeper, and another to Pavard on the goal line.
PSG tried to find connections, but Bayern were well positioned to avoid the blows of Mbappé, who had his chance in a good run in 74, when thanks to his speed he appeared alone before Sommer, but his shot crashed against the face of the Swiss goalkeeper and the subsequent rebound, recovered by Neymar, ended in a disallowed goal from Mbappé for offside.
The Frenchman still had time to once again overcome the German defense, somewhat hesitant at the time, to serve Messi who saw his point-blank shot deflected by Pavard for a corner.
The French pressure dropped somewhat, although they faced the last stage with one more due to the expulsion of Pavard for a double yellow. But it was not enough to break the German order.
Datasheet:
PSG, 0: Donnarumma; Hakimi (Kimpembe, m.46), Ramos, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes; Zaïre-Emery (Fabian Ruiz, m.57), Verratti, Danilo (Vitinha, m.75), Soler (Mbappé, m.57); Neymar, Messi
Bayern Munich, 1: Sommer; Pavard, De Ligt, Upamecano; Sané (Stanisic, m.90), Kimmich, Goretzka, Cancelo (Davies, m.46); Coman (Gnabry, m.75), Musiala (Gravenberch, m.87); Choupo-Moting (Muller, m.75)
Goals: 0-1, m.53: Coman
Referee: Michael Olivier (ING), admonished Kimpembe (70), Neymar (87) and sent off Pavard (92) for a double yellow
Incidences: First leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League played in the Parc des Princes in Paris before 45,000 spectators. A minute of silence was observed for the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
Brahim elevates Milan against Tottenham
Milan returned this Tuesday in the best possible way to the round of 16 of the ‘Champions’ knocking down Tottenham thanks to the goal by Brahim Diaz in a game in which the ‘rossonero’ team once again felt important on a big stage, in which they recovered the essence that led them to the top of Italy last season and the confidence lost in recent months.
Giuseppe Meazza received the match as the biggest of the season. And it is that the ‘rossoneri’ they heard the ‘Champions’ anthem in a round of 16 nine years after the last time. The wait had been too long to not live it with that intensity that the players of both teams also put on the green.
The first part began with the usual agitation and nervousness typical of the competition phase. Fouls, interruptions, very physical duels and small inaccuracies that meant that neither team clearly prevailed over the other, although with the early goal from Brahim (m.7), which conditioned the game and unleashed madness on the part of the local fans.
space attacked Theo Hernandez and it was measured in an aerial duel with Cuti Romero in the vicinity of the area. With more strength, determination and conviction than the Argentine, the Frenchman kept possession and faced the goal without seeing that Saelemaekers was in goal to push it. He decided to shoot, but Foster chested it out and left a rebound on the penalty spot, where Brahim appeared from the second row to, in two stages and after a spectacular hand from the English goalkeeper, finish off with his head at will and open the scoring in minute seven.
Pioli celebrated on the bench with intensityaware that the goal brought him closer to the game that interested him, freeing himself from the accumulated tension after a period of crisis in which he chained seven games in a row without knowing victory and that put his position as leader of the Milan bench in question.
Neither Conte nor Pioli came out to speculate in the duel between Italian coaches, but the locals used the goal to cede a little more possession to the English team, who tried unsuccessfully to connect with Son and Kane in the three-quarter zone.
And it is that as soon as the ‘Spurs’ chained two passes in the danger zone or Kane received from behind, the Milan defense appeared to cut the play. Kjaer paired up with Kane and fouled him, while Thiaw was an impregnable wall in a match that established him as a central guarantee for Pioli.
With possession, a London team grew little by little, but they failed to generate danger, handcuffed by a line of three central defenders that this time did bear fruit for Pioli’s team, and an omnipresent Tonali in midfield. Leao, along with Brahim, was in charge of making the most of the contras and he responded to the recent criticism about his level, successfully facing his left-footed profile, reminding him of his best version, the one Milan needs in this type of match.
Tottenham reacted in the second halftaking advantage of the meters ceded by Milan, accumulating men in the area and forcing the local defense to push themselves to the maximum, although leaving space for the speed of Leao and Brahim, who accompanied by Giroud forced the yellow cards for Cuti and a Dier who will miss the second leg.
However, despite English rule, Milan was once again the one that enjoyed the clearest chances. They were followed, in less than a minute, and they could assume the tranquility in the final minutes if De Ketelaere and Thiaw had hit with individual headers at will. Leao was also able to put the sentence, but poor control sent the opportunity to limbo.
Milan forgave and they had to suffer, but they frustrated a Tottenham that had come down on their return to the round of 16 of the Champions League in which, beyond the victory, a different air was breathed from what they experienced this last month and half in league Milan was Milan again. Milan returned in style.
Datasheet:
Milan, 1: Not five; Kalulu, Kjaer, Thiaw; Saelemaekers (Messias, m.77), Tonali (Pobega, m.86), Krunic, Theo; Brahim (De ketelaere, m.77), Giroud y Leao (Rebic, m.90).
Tottenham, 0: Forster; Rosemary, Dier, Lenglet (Davies, m.81); Emerson Royal, Skipp, Sarr, Perisic; Kulusevski (Richarlison, m.70), Kane and Son (Danjuma, m.81).
Gol: 1-0, m.7: Brahim
Referee: Sandro Scharer (SUI). He showed a yellow card to Tonali (m.80), Theo (m.92), by Milan; and Romero (m.48), Dier (m.63), by Tottenham.
Incidences: first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League played at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium (San Siro) in Milan (north). A minute’s silence was observed before the start for the victims of the earthquake that devastated Turkey and Syria last week.
