PSG has its revenge within reach.
Beaten last August in the Champions League final by Bayern Munich (1-0), Paris can this time rule out the "Rekordmeister" in the quarter-finals.
At the Parc des Princes for the return match, PSG arrives in a favorable waiver, between away victory in the first leg (2-3) and Bayern team decimated by absences.
What to calmly contemplate qualifying for the last four?
Yes, unless the old Parisian demons are back ...
If the magical attacking duo Mbappé (two goals) and Neymar (two assists) is at the same level as the first leg, if Navas remains the impregnable fortress of his last meetings in the Champions League and if the team shows the same solidarity as at the Allianz Arena, PSG has every chance.
In Bavaria, Paris wrote a chapter that its supporters will never forget - despite being behind closed doors -, such as George Weah's anthology goal in 1994 against the same opponent.
In a team that had not lost in the competition for 19 games, without their midfielder Marco Verratti, Mauricio Pochettino's men achieved the feat that no French club had achieved at the Allianz Arena since 2009.
After such a result, not seeing the semi-finals would be considered a failure.
Or more: the last four times that Bayern lost at home in C1, it was against the future winner (Real Madrid in 2014, 2017 and 2018, Liverpool in 2019).
Exploit or stroke of luck?
However, we must not bury the Germans too quickly.
Their defeat in the first leg has all the statistical anomaly: the Bavarians had 61% possession of the ball, shot 31 times on goal - an absolute record this season in the Champions League -, on target 12 times, and the Parisian goalkeeper Keylor Navas made no less than ten saves!
According to statistician Opta, PSG had never conceded so many shots in the queen competition, at least since the start of this statistic in 2003.
"The football we played tonight was impressive," even Bavarian coach Hansi Flick said immediately after the match.
"We weren't as efficient as usual in front of goal (...) but I'm very happy with the team's performance."
1 - Records for a winning team in a Champions League knockout match (excluding extra time):
Shots suffered (since 2003/04): Paris 🇫🇷 v Bayern yesterday (31).
xG suffered (since 2013/14): Paris 🇫🇷 v Bayern yesterday (3.79).
Anomaly.
pic.twitter.com/od3Iw9OQ1s
- OptaJean (@OptaJean) April 8, 2021
"The Munich were better than PSG: this defeat is a joke", annoys the site Focus Online, in unison with the national press.
"Bayern failed because of their atypical inability to convert chances into goals, and their well-known defensive weaknesses."
Lothar Matthäus, ex-Ballon d'Or, world champion and star of Bayern, remains optimistic and even makes Munich his favorite for the qualification: "On the way back, Paris will have to be in a very big day, he warns . They won't have the same luck twice in a row. "
Bayern decimated?
If we should never rejoice in the misfortune of others, the Parisians must still look with a good eye at the uncertainties that currently surround the workforce of Bayern.
Robert Lewandowski, Corentin Tolisso, Douglas Costa and Niklas SĂĽle are injured, Marc Roca and Serge Gnabry positive for Covid-19, therefore all unavailable for sure.
Finally, Lucas Hernandez and Leon Goretzka are uncertain.
Result: six executives of the workforce probably absent, even if there is still hope for Hernandez, and two very solid substitutes, Roca and Douglas Costa, out of the circuit.
Kingsley Coman, hit in the knee on Saturday in the draw against Union Berlin, should take his place.
On the Paris side, the infirmary also remains busy, even if the horizon begins to brighten: Leandro Paredes, suspended from the first leg, is back.
Marco Verratti and Alessandro Florenzi (tested positive for Covid-19) will be available if they test negative before kick-off.
But captain Marquinhos, who was injured after scoring the second goal in the first leg, finally forfeited.
Just like striker Icardi (thigh) and full-backs Layvin Kurzawa (calves) and Juan Bernat, still too tight.
The missed return match, a Parisian specialty
A specter haunts Paris: that of the return match missed in the Champions League.
Indeed, the Qatari version of PSG has made a specialty in recent years to dazzle in the first leg to better collapse in the second round.
A tradition that can be traced back to March 8, 2017 and the "remountada".
That evening, PSG arrives by conquering on the lawn of Camp Nou, author of a show of force against Barça from the "MSN" (Messi-Suarez-Neymar) a month earlier (4-0).
However, at the end of a disastrous evening concluded with a 6-1 defeat, the capital club entered the history of the Champions League by the back door as the first team to be eliminated after having had four goals ahead in the first leg.
In 2019, rebel, even if the failure is less spectacular.
PSG thought they had done the hard part by winning 2-0 at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
However, with a dozen injured players and Paul Pogba suspended, the "Red Devils" turn the tide (3-1) on defensive errors in Paris.
Paris thus become the first team in the history of the Champions League to be eliminated despite a 2-0 away victory in the first leg.
1 - Paris is the first team in the history of the Champions League to be eliminated despite a 2-0 away victory in the first leg.
Unimaginable.
#PSGMUN pic.twitter.com/vB6QPKIy8m
- OptaJean (@OptaJean) March 6, 2019
This season, PSG is hardly reassuring at home: Paris has already lost five times in its den - unheard of since the 2008-2009 financial year - including three defeats against its competitors in the top 4 of Ligue 1: Lille , Monaco and Lyon.
The Parisians also lost at home at the start of their Champions League campaign against Manchester United.
Even the round of 16 return against FC Barcelona in early March was not reassuring.
After their resounding victory at Camp Nou (4-1), the Parisians were content to undergo at the Parc des Princes and to make the round back.
It took an extraordinary performance from Kaylor Navas to avoid a new disaster (1-1), proof that the old demons are never far away.
How do you say "remountada" in German?
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