The first semi-final of the 2019/20 Champions League season has come to an end in Lisbon at the Da Luz stadium. Paris Saint-Germain defeated Leipzig and for the first time in history earned the right to compete for the main trophy of the competition. The capital's team became only the fifth French club to reach the final of the main European club championship. The last time Monaco managed to do this was in 2004.
The current Champions League season has already become one of the most unpredictable and go down in history. If only for the reason that three out of four semifinalists never reached the last stage of the competition. So, the best achievement of Paris Saint-Germain was reaching the semifinals, and Leipzig made their way to the playoffs for the first time. This is not surprising, because the German club was founded only 11 years ago. Thus, the stakes were very high, which made the confrontation even more intense.
In the previous round, Leipzig created a sensation and took over Atlético, who had twice reached the final of the tournament in the previous six years. However, even this did not make him a favorite in the eyes of the bookmakers. Moreover, the Germans were considered obvious outsiders, which could be facilitated by several factors at once. Yes, although Julian Nagelsmann's wards were able to pass Madrid even without Timo Werner, the departure of the star striker, if not weakened the team, then at least deprived it of variability. In addition, one of the leaders of the defense, Marcel Halstenberg, remained on the bench. Perhaps the reason for this was imperfect health. A few days ago, he ran into Stefan Savich and cut his head, as a result of which he spent the rest of the meeting in a special bandage.
But Paris Saint-Germain had much less losses. Kylian Mbappé recovered from injury and became one of the main characters in the match with Atalanta, while Angel Di Maria served a ban for busting yellow cards. For the Argentine, this season turned out to be one of the most successful in his career. In this Champions League season, the midfielder tied for third place on the list of top assistants. Above him, only the same Mbappe and Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski. In terms of losses, Thomas Tuchel could not count on goalkeeper Keylor Navas. But at the start was the former Zenit midfielder Leandro Paredes, and on the bench was the recovered Marco Verratti.
"Leipzig" immediately opposed a more stellar opponent with high pressure and proprietary lightning attacks. In the first quarter of an hour, Nagelsman's wards hit Sergio Rico's goal four times, but only once the Spaniard had to come into play. “Paris Saint-Germain” answered a little later, but the moment was much sharper. First, Mbappe brought Neymar to a rendezvous with Peter Gulachi, but he shot into the post, and then the Frenchman himself sent the ball into the net. Lucas Klostermann untimely passed the goalkeeper, he shot straight into the Brazilian striker Parisians, and Kilian played on finishing. True, Bjorn Kuipers saw a hand game and canceled the goal.
But a little later, even the Dutch referee was unable to save Leipzig. Neymar with a spectacular feint forced his opponent to break the rules dangerously close to the penalty area. Di Maria volunteered to fulfill the standard and issued another effective pass. Marquinhos played ahead of the curve and hit his head. PSG hit the net in their 34th Champions League game in a row and beat Real Madrid's record.
Subsequently, the opponents exchanged dangerous moments. At first, Yussuf Poulsen lacked the skill to hit the goal from a vantage point, and then Neymar hit the frame for the second time in a row. True, already at the end of the half, the Brazilian rehabilitated himself and acted as an assistant. Perepasovka in its own penalty area ended with a sawed-off Gulachi. Mbappe played on the interception and addressed the transfer to the Brazilian, who found Di Maria with his heel in the penalty area. Angel did not blunder and doubled the lead.
Nagelsman was extremely dissatisfied with the actions of his attacking midfielders, which was immediately reflected in the form of substitutions. Already during the break, Christopher Nkunku and Dani Olmo left the field, followed by Patrick Schick and Emil Forsberg. In the playoffs, the Swede played ten minutes in total, so such an early appearance could be considered unexpected. Nevertheless, the tactical rearrangements did not exclude the gross mistakes in the defense of "Leipzig". Already in the 56th minute, Paris Saint-Germain again took advantage of the confusion in the defensive line of the counterpart and brought the score to a large one. Nordi Mukiele fell while trying to clear the ball, but instead of continuing the game, he began to appeal to the referee. Thus, the Frenchman prevented his partners from creating an artificial offside position and allowed Juan Bernat to excel. The Spaniard shot freely on goal, and Di Maria scored an assistant double.
Subsequently, Marcel Halstenberg and Tyler Adams, the author of the winning goal against Atlético, appeared on the field, but Tuchel's charges were unstoppable. Di Maria continued to hand out brilliant transmissions, and Mbappe and Neymar continued to tear apart the enemy's defenses. In the remaining time, both the forward duo and Leandro Paredes could have distinguished themselves. The Argentinian struck powerfully from a distance, but Gulachi confidently fixed the ball.
In the end, Leipzig continued to push, but failed to crack the PSG defense. The French responded with rapid counter-attacks, which looked dangerous even after the departure of Mbappe and Di Maria. Neymar was amazing dribbling, but still wasn't convincing enough at the end. A few minutes before the end of regular time, he could interrupt the dry streak, but could not adjust to the cross of Pablo Sarabia.
Paris Saint-Germain beat Leipzig big and for the first time in their history reached the Champions League final. To do this, he needed 110 matches - more than any club. Team Tuchel became only the fifth French representative ever to compete for the main trophy of the competition. In addition to her, Reims, Saint-Etienne, Marseille and Monaco reached this stage.