Champions League: cold shower for Paris Saint-Germain against Manchester city
Paris Saint-Germain did not take the shock against a more aggressive Manchester City team in the second half.
AFP - ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
After a very good first period and Marquinhos' opener, Paris Saint-Germain was held in check in the semi-final first leg at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday April 28 against Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne and Ryad Mahrez scored both goals for Manchester City (2-1).
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After FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Paris had an appointment with Manchester City for a duel at the top which was to lead Neymar and his teammates to the final of the C1.
For the second year in a row, the capital club reached this level of competition, to once again come closer to its coveted Grail for a decade with the arrival of Qatar in the capital of the club, and hundreds of millions euros spent to afford the "Cup with big ears" which they still lack.
The Marquinhos head in the first period
At the Parc des Princes for the first leg, PSG offered themselves a first electric period, with a flash of genius from Marquinhos, who has not played since his right adductor injury in early April. The Brazilian opened the scoring a corner taken by the Argentinian Di Maria by placing his head and beating Ederson on his right (15th). The PSG captain signs his third goal in nine Champions League matches this season.
And it is again on set piece that Paris was most dangerous as on the corner hit by Neymar where Paredes ahead of Dias with a head at the near post.
The ball fails flush with the skylight (28th).
New fear for City, whose defense has kept its clean sheet in 29 of its 53 matches to date.
Finally, one of the only dangerous actions of Manchester City during the first period is signed Bernado Silva (21st).
Riyad Mahrez on time
PSG, which was almost never endangered by the English during the first period apart from a shot from Foden repelled by Navas (42nd), returned to the pitch with another face. Less sharp, the Parisians began to suffer the domination of Manchester City and the scenario began to turn into a nightmare when Kevin De Bruyne restarted the game by delivering a fleeing center whose trajectory surprised Navas (64th).
Less than 10 minutes later, the Algerian international Riyad Mahrez gave the advantage to the Citizens with a direct free kick and managed to pierce the Parisian wall and surprise Navas (71st).
In this exercise, his brilliant shot, in added time against Nigeria (2-1), had qualified the Fennecs in the CAN final in 2019. The rest?
A historic title in Cairo, against Senegal (1-0), which gave him the status of national hero, in the eyes of an Algeria who had been waiting for this trophy since 1990.
To top it off, Senegalese international Idrissa Gueye took a red card and was excluded for a huge foul on Gündoğan (77th).
Paris Saint-Germain no longer really has its destiny in hand to go to the C1 final.
It will take a feat from Mauricio Pochettino's men next week in England to hope to play a second consecutive final.
Already winner of the League Cup, City are also close to pocketing the Championship, pending a possible Champions League final.
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