He PSG and Kylian Mbappéagainst the ropes: the new French champion was defeated 1-0 on their visit to the Borussia Dortmundthis Wednesday in the first leg of the semifinals of the Champions League.
Niclas Füllkrug’s goal in the 36th minute helped the yellow team win this first round at the Westfalenstadion and travel to Paris with a lead that is as short as it is hopeful for the second leg, which will be played on Tuesday of next week.
Adding to the adverse result was another concern for PSG, the injury of their defender Lucas Hernández, who hurt himself while trying to avoid Füllkrug’s shot on the goal and had to be replaced shortly before half-time.
This result changes the planned script in a series in which PSG arrived as a clear favorite, just after mathematically becoming champion of the French Ligue 1 for the twelfth time in its history, while Dortmund is only fifth in the Bundesliga.
The team from the French capital already had to come back from its quarter-final tie, in which it first lost 3-2 at home against Barcelona, before winning 4-1 as a visitor with a double from Mbappé at the Montjuic Olympic Stadium.
The French star could not lead his team this time and sees his dream of lifting the ‘Orejona’ become complicated in his farewell to PSG, a club that since 2011 was acquired by its current Qatari owners has had the Champions League as a great obsession and with the one who became European runner-up in 2020.
The favorite label was soon forgotten and the goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma He narrowly avoided a clear shot from Austrian Marcel Sabitzer in the 13th.
It was a warning that ended up materializing in the 36th minute, when Nico Schlotterbeck sent a long cross that left Füllkrug alone in the race towards the visiting goal. Lucas Hernández damaged his left knee in his desperate chase to avoid the German attacker’s shot.
The PSG defender tried to continue but ended up giving up his place on the field to another Lucas, his Brazilian teammate Beraldo. In the midst of the confusion, Sabitzer (43) tested Donnarumma’s reflexes again.
The tone seemed to change upon returning from the locker room. In the 50th minute he even hit the post twice in the same play: first Mbappé hit the post with a cross shot and the rebound made the play continue, before Achraf Hakimi hit the woodwork again.
The Swiss goalkeeper of the locals, Gregor Kobel, stopped a new shot by Mbappé (54) and shortly after the Spaniard Fabián Ruiz (56) misdirected a header in the goal’s mouth, with everything in his favor.
Once again a savior, Kobel put in a providential hand to deflect just enough a shot from Ousmane Dembelé (72), who then shot into the clouds with everything in his favor with a shot in the area.
It was not PSG’s night, which at least avoided major problems thanks to the fact that Füllkrug failed to aim on two clear occasions in the second half, sending high in a pass of death in the 60th and in a header in the 65th. Marquinhos even saved the French by blocking a shot from Julian Brandt in the 84th.
The Parc des Princes was the stadium in which both PSG and Borussia Dortmund, who met in their first phase group, started their journey in this edition, with the French victory then by 2-0.
Tuesday will be the place where one of the two bids farewell to the competition and for the moment it is PSG that is teetering on the wire. The winner of the fight will be seen on June 1 at Wembley against Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, who tied 2-2 on Tuesday in their first round.
Source: Ambito
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