Miracle in Lisbon: how goals in the 90th and 93rd minutes helped PSG beat Atalanta and reach the semi-finals of the Champions League

In the Champions League quarterfinals, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Atalanta. Thomas Tuchel's wards were inferior in the score for most of the meeting, but in stoppage time they hit the opponent's goal twice and for the first time in 25 years reached the semifinals of the tournament. The French team also beat the Italian team for the first time in the main club competition of the continent and thus marked the 50th anniversary of the club's founding.

With their performance, Atalanta has earned the title of one of the main discoveries of the season, and its players and coach have become one of the most talked about in the whole world. Gian Piero Gasperini's sparkling football has made millions of fans fall in love with him, and Alejandro Gomez, Mario Pashalich and Josip Ilicic have made their way from quality to star players in one competitive year. At the same time, the effectiveness of the black and blue was especially striking. In 38 games, they scored 98 goals, making them the third-largest club in the top 5 European leagues. Only Bayern (100 goals in 34 games) and Manchester City (102 in 38) grieved opponents more often.

It is noteworthy that in terms of the number of goals, they could well have been overtaken by their rivals in the Champions League quarterfinals. After 27 Ligue 1 meetings, the Parisians averaged 2.7 goals per game and were on schedule with 105 goals per season. But the leadership of the French championship decided to suspend the championship and deprived Thomas Tuchel's wards of the chance to compete for the title of the most hammered team.

There was a lot at stake. Earlier in history, none of the teams represented has ever reached the Champions League semi-finals. It was the first time Atalanta made it into the most prestigious tournament of the continent, and PSG could not achieve this, despite the multimillion-dollar cash injections. Over the past eight years, the Parisians have regularly earned a ticket to the playoffs of the competition, but the quarter-final stage remained the best achievement for them. Moreover, in the last two years they have completely stumbled in the first round.

Both teams came to this meeting not without losses. Livin Kurzava and Marco Verratti were absent from Paris Saint-Germain due to injuries, but the return of Kilian Mbappé to service was good news. The star forward injured his ankle in the French Cup final with Saint-Etienne, but resumed training two days ago and was on the bench. It is noteworthy that even the head coach Thomas Tuchel was forced to be in a cast. A German specialist sprained his ankle and broke his metatarsal bone in training. At the same time, due to the busting of yellow cards, one of the best assistants in Europe, Angel Di Maria, could not help his partners. He has chalked up 21 assists this season.

For Atalanta, the main goalkeeper Pierluggi Gollini and the top scorer Ilicic failed to enter the field. In early August, the Slovenian refused to play in the Champions League and flew home, citing "personal problems". At the moment, their essence is not known for certain, but the Italian media write that the athlete was cheated on by his wife, and against this background he could develop depression.

In the first minutes, the impression was that Atalanta did not notice the loss of the star striker. The Italians immediately rushed forward and made Keylor Navas sweat seriously. The danger in themselves was carried by horse feeds, which were readily responded to by both tall midfielder Hans Hatebur and defenders Mattia Caldara and Berat Jimsiti. At the same time Alejandro Gomez was the soloist, who could have distinguished himself already in the third minute. It is all the more remarkable that the most striking episode of the starting segment occurred a few seconds after the Argentine's strike. Neymar pulled away one on one with reserve goalkeeper Marco Sportello, but miraculously missed. Instead of the alignment, the Brazilian sent the ball into billboards.

Subsequently, Neymar revived and turned into a real team leader, but experienced enormous difficulties in the completion. Perhaps, the striker's game was affected by the lack of playing tone, but that time after time he could not execute the smashing blow. The rest of the team looked dull at all. The Parisians regularly made mistakes in transmission and could not resist the most severe pressure from the Bergamasks, and Ander Herrera and Pablo Sarabia - to compensate for the absence of leaders. And already in the 27th minute, Atalanta's pressure bore fruit. Duvan Zapata imposed a fight on the opponent's defenders at someone else's penalty area and rolled the ball under the attack of Mario Pashalich. The former Spartak midfielder made a brilliant touchdown and forced Navas to capitulate.

In the first third of the second half, the alignment of forces did not change, as a result of which Tuchel had to throw Mbappe into battle. Sarabia left the field, unable to be remembered for useful actions. At the same second, Gasperini made the rearrangements, replacing the injured Gomez. Ruslan Malinovsky came out instead of the chief designer of Atalanta's attacks, and Jose Palomino replaced the tired Jimcity.

Of course, with the advent of Mbappe, the game "Paris Saint-Germain" became brighter and more meaningful, but for a long time it did not come to the point. The Frenchman seemed not as fast as usual, and the first moment with his participation appeared only in the 73rd minute. Kilian managed to break free into the operational space and break into the penalty area, but the blow did not work. Sportiello put out his foot and moved the ball to the corner.

In the end it might seem that PSG is in a stalemate. The Parisians could not approach the opponent's possessions, and due to injury, the main goalkeeper Navas left the field. Instead, Sergio Rico appeared, and the failed game Mauro Icardi was replaced by Eric Chupo-Moting. Then this decision of Tuchel might have seemed a manifestation of despair, but in fact it was the forward of the Cameroon national team who became the main character of the meeting. In the period from the 90th to the 93rd minute, he first organized the goal of Marquinhos, and then distinguished himself with the transfer of Mbappe. Paris Saint-Germain made one of the most striking comebacks in the history of the competition and for the first time since 1995 reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.