What’s going on with Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool FC and Inter Milan? The French barely win in Brest, the other two lose to outsiders. Stories from the weekend in international football.
Am Maximum
One still has the lawsuit from Kylian Mbappe in the ear, which was also a compliment. FC Bayern, said the French striker after the Champions League defeat in Munich, is “a team that is formed to win the Champions League”. Paris Saint-Germain, on the other hand, that Qatari billion-dollar project that was actually formed with exactly this purpose? “As far as we are concerned: This is our maximum,” judged Mbappé: a chanceless, almost sad performance in the round of 16. In the domestic Ligue 1, Mbappé and colleagues both confirmed and refuted this judgment on Saturday. Confirmed because they were only able to draw 1-1 at Stade Brest, a candidate for relegation, until the 90th minute. Disproved because then Mbappé, served by Lionel Messi, scored 2-1. Nevertheless, everything is rather sad at PSG right now.
Next to
Sure, a 7-0 win over Manchester United only brings three points – but emotionally Jürgen Klopp and his Liverpool FC, who have been so fickle this season, would have liked to live longer than just a week. But now the euphoria is gone again: The Reds suffered a 0-1 defeat at table bottom AFC Bournemouth. Striker had the greatest chance of at least equalizing Mo Salah; he put a penalty well wide of the post in the 65th minute. The Klopp-Elf is still somehow beside themselves before they have to catch up 2: 5 at Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. And in the Premier League, while fifth is within reach of Champions League standings, Newcastle are sixth, two games down, just a point behind.
Lu vs La
Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez They got along so well that they merged into an acronym in Italy: LuLa. The duo shot Inter to the league title in 2021, then were separated for a year as Lukaku went to Chelsea. For the current season, LuLa has been reunited, but the harmony is gone. There was evidence of this during Inter’s 2-1 defeat at newly promoted La Spezia. The strikers quarreled over the execution of a penalty that Martínez missed a little later. After that, Lu and La ignored each other so consistently that the topic was treated as a political issue in the Italian gazettes. However, the Milanese cannot use a relationship crisis, the sporting misery is big enough: Leaders Naples has rushed to 18 points.
