Manchester United clinically punish PSG – Controversial penalty completes a comeback
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Paris Saint-Germain started the game as favourites to progress after their 2-0 win against Manchester United in the first leg tie at Old Trafford. United were without the suspended midfielder Pogba and also missed close to ten senior players including Mata, Matic, Valencia and Herrera who were all unavailable for selection with injuries.
United struggled to keep possession of the ball throughout the half but Romelu Lukaku pounced on mistakes from Kehrar and Buffon to punish the French side against the run of play. The Belgian striker gave United a dream start by pouncing on Kehrar’s careless backpass. He rounded the goal keeper before scoring into an open net.
The match witnessed a growing partnership between Bernat and Mbappe with the later attempting to slide and reach the cross from Bernat but failing to time it properly. The youngster made up for it and found the unmarked Bernat with a cross to the back post and the Spaniard tucked it in to equalize the tie and restore PSG’s two goal lead on aggregate.
The side from the French capital dominated the game but were missing the spark in the final third. United capitalized on another PSG mistake but this time it came from the experienced Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon who spilled a shot from Rashford. The spilled ball reached Lukaku who tapped it in on rebound to make it 3-2 on aggregate with United needing just one more goal to progress on away-goals rule.
PSG started the second half brightly and it took Angel Di Maria only a matter of minutes to find the back of the net but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside. Mbappe found him with a flick and the Argentine Winger chipped it over De Gea but United kept a good line to trap the winger offside. Unlike the first half, United maintained their shape and defended well. The 4-4-2 formation employed often became 5 at the back with Dalot tracking back when needed.
The French side had a glorious opportunity to put the tie to bed when Mbappe found himself one-on-one with De Gea after Smalling narrowly played him onside. The striker almost rounded the keeper but slipped at a pivotal time giving De Gea the fraction of a second to make the crucial touch. Smalling followed up and his challenge took the ball away from Kylian Mbappe. The ball only reached Di Maria who striked it sweetly but the post denied the Argentine winger a goal against his former side in the second leg.
In the 90th minute, Dalot’s shot hit Kimbempe’s arm but it looked very much like his arm was in a natural position. Most pundits and former footballers can’t seem to understand how that would be called a penalty. Unfortunately, the referee didn’t see it that way. With VAR, the referee took time to watch the action in slow-motion and pointed to the spot. Rashford stepped up and scored completing the English side’s come back in Paris.
The result makes Manchester United progress to the quarter finals on away goals rule at the expense of PSG. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is making a strong case for himself to become the permanent manager of Manchester United next season with this result. PSG are left to rue the slips and drops. They had an off-day on the field and the penalty decision was harsh but Manchester United were clinical and held their nerve when it mattered the most.
Elsewhere, Porto beat last year’s semi-finalists Roma 3-1 in extra-time to knock the Italian side out. Daniele De Rossi’s penalty proved to be insufficient as the home side scored twice from open play through Francisco Soares and Moussa Marega. Porto were awarded a penalty late in extra time and Alex Telles scored from the spot. This entire week in Champions League football has been incredible with shock results echoing through Europe as Real Madrid, Roma and PSG having been knocked out.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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