Sid Lowe was at the Parc des Princes tonight ... and his report has landed. Off you click for the good doctor’s assessment. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Real keeper Thibaut Courtois, surely the man of the match despite Kylian Mbappe’s late goal, talks to BT Sport. “It was almost a very good night. Obviously Messi shoots a lot of penalties so it’s hard to guess right, but he’s missed a few on this side, so I went left and had a good save. The goal was a bit annoying. We lost the ball in midfield, then Mbappe goes away easily from two players. You have to close the angle so I went down as fast as I could to block, but the ball went in just the right space under my body. It’s a bit hard to take after such a game, but nothing is lost with 1-0, even with a draw we would have had to win at home. Now we just have to do it in 90 minutes! At home it will have to be better. We believe and we are sure we can win.”
The mood at the Parc des Princes changes in an instant, as PSG, heads collectively hanging low before Mbappe’s moment, run in unison to celebrate with their fans. It took a dramatic late, late intervention from a couple of superstars. Neymar with the defence-splitting backheel, Mbappe with the slippery run and composed finish. On balance, though Real were staunch, PSG deserved their win. They’ll take a slender advantage to the Bernabeu in three weeks’ time.
FULL TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 Real Madrid
That’s pretty much the last kick of the game! Mbappe’s wasn’t the last touch, mind, the ball taking the gentlest of flicks off Valverde en route to the goal, further foxing poor Courtois, whose fine night has turned sour at the very end!
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GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 Real Madrid (Mbappe 90+4)
Courtois had no chance with this, though! Neymar finds Mbappe on the left touchline with a cute backheel. Mbappe takes a touch to enter the box, slips between Militao and Vasquez, and slots a low shot through the keeper’s legs and in!
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90 min +3: Gueye finds a little pocket of space on the edge of the Real D. He scuffs his shot straight at Courtois, who has been Real’s best player tonight.
90 min +1: The first of four added minutes sees Paredes go into the book for a late clip on Kroos.
90 min: More groaning as Mbappe skitters down the right at speed. He reaches the byline but can’t find Neymar in the six-yard box with his pullback.
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89 min: Mbappe tries a backheeled pass that doesn’t come off. The home fans groan.
88 min: Both teams make a change, Gueye coming on for Danilo, Benzema making way for Bale.
87 min: Some noise now, though, as Messi dribbles down the inside-right channel and releases Neymar into the box. Courtois comes out to tighten the angle, and Neymar can only dink a chip across the face of goal and away. For a second, a late winner seemed on the cards. But what fine on-point keeping by Courtois, who made things as difficult as possible for Neymar.
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86 min: Real stroke it around the back comfortably. The away fans are the only ones to be heard in an otherwise silent and sullen Parc des Princes.
85 min: Real are very close to a valuable draw now. PSG look to be running out of ideas as the clock ticks on. “Justice done with the penalty save, I thought,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Mbappe was on his way down half an hour before Carvajal’s tackle came in.” Oh he was looking for it all right. But I guess you do what you have to do.
83 min: Kroos limps into the mixer. Verratti and Alaba collide at the far post. Free kick for Real. Momentarily, things threaten to escalate between Kimpembe and Rodrygo, the latter refusing to give the ball back so PSG can restart the game quickly. Kimpembe gives the cheeky scamp an irritated shove, and both players go in the book.
82 min: Paredes slides in hysterically on Vinicius, who was making good down the left. Before the free kick can be taken, Vinicius and an unhappy Modric are replaced by Hazard and Valverde.
80 min: Mbappe wins a corner down the right. Neymar takes. Militao clears. Real counter, Rodrygo swivelling and taking a snapshot on the edge of the PSG box. Marquinhos blocks. PSG have had 19 attempts at goal, Real now just the three. But look at the score, and the clock.
78 min: Vinicius briefly threatens to break into the PSG box after taking a long pass down with one sweet touch. But he over-elaborates and can’t get past the resilient duo of Hakimi and Marquinhos. He falls over, looking for a free kick he’s never going to get. PSG clear their lines.
77 min: Messi embarks on a baroque ramble down the left, entering the box and curling across the face of goal. Mbappe hangs out a leg but can’t connect. Any sort of connection would have been a goal. Instead it’s just a corner. The ball’s worked long to Mbappe, just inside the box on the left. Mbappe curls towards the bottom right, the ball flying inches wide for a goal kick. So close x2!
75 min: Messi pulls rank to take the free kick. He whips it over the wall well enough, but having set it out wide left, doesn’t get enough curl on it coming back. Courtois waves it past.
74 min: Neymar is immediately in the thick of it, one-twoing with Mbappe down the middle before being clipped by Alaba, just outside the D. Danger here!
73 min: PSG respond by replacing Di Maria with Neymar. The Parc erupts.
72 min: Real make a double change. Vazquez and Rodrygo come on for Carvajal and Asensio.
71 min: PSG pass and probe, but can’t find any way through the Real back line.
69 min: Not a great deal happens at the free kick. Messi eventually handles and the pressure is off Real. In the dugouts, Neymar starts stripping for action.
68 min: Alaba brings down Paredes from behind. He’s fortunate not to go into the book. A free kick 30 yards out, just to the left of centre. Everyone gets busy in the box.
66 min: Militao accidentally whacks a sliding Verratti on the bottom of his boot. A sore one for the PSG man, who requires a minute or two to get back up. But get back up he does.
64 min: The referee tells Ancelotti to pipe down, the Real boss having taken umbrage at his decision not to book Di Maria for a late clip on Vinicius Junior.
63 min: Danilo is booked for a cynical tug on Vinicius Junior’s shirt. The denizens of the Parc des Princes are stunned, reeling.
Messi misses the penalty!
62 min: Messi sends a powerful sidefoot towards the bottom right. Courtois guesses correctly and turns it around the post! Not the greatest penalty, but not the worst either. Stunning save!
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Penalty for PSG!
61 min: Mbappe takes matters into his own hands by turning on the burners and entering the box down the inside-left channel. He draws a clumsy challenge from Carvajal, and it’s a no-brainer of a decision. The referee points to the spot.
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60 min: A long-distance Messi shot deflects left to Mendes, whose low cross is blocked and cleared. This is getting a little scrappy again.
58 min: That was a sore one for Danilo, and it takes a while to get him back up and running. But eventually he’s good to go.
57 min: Mendy will also miss the second leg for Real. He picks up a booking for a late clip on Danilo’s shin.
56 min: A bit of space and time for Mbappe out on the left. He sends a fierce curler towards the top right. Easy enough for Courtois. “What’s with Mbappe?” wonders Peter Oh. “He’s playing like he’s auditioning for a job or something.”
54 min: Kroos has a batter from the best part of 30 yards. The ball’s always rising over the bar. Donnarumma waves at the ball as it passes.
53 min: A busy minute for Courtois. He slides out to deny Mbappe with a fine sliding smother. The ball’s returned by Mendes. Courtois claims despite having been on walkabout. He then throws out dangerously, the ball intercepted and eventually being teed up for Mbappe, whose shot from the edge of the box is blocked. Real living a charmed life there.
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52 min: Militao is booked for a clip on Mbappe.
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51 min: Di Maria batters a speculative shot over the crossbar from an ambitious distance out on the left.
50 min: Messi, Verratti and Hakimi paint a few triangles across the face of the Real box. Suddenly the ball breaks to Mbappe, just inside the area in a central position. He lashes a shot towards the bottom left. Courtois sticks out a strong arm to save spectacularly. Messi swivels and fires the rebound miles over the bar. As close as PSG have come!
48 min: A bit of space down the left for Mendes ... but his cross is way too long. “The removal of away goal advantage has given a big advantage to the second game’s home team,” suggests Greg G. “First legs will now be more defensive for the away teams as they just need to get home and win there or at worst go to penalties.”
47 min: A reasonably scrappy start to the second half. Quality has been at a premium all evening, with only one shot on target so far.
PSG get the ball rolling for the second half. Neither team has made a change during the half-time break. The rain is heavier, though, so that’s different.
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HALF TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 0-0 Real Madrid
Kroos whips to the near post. Casemiro flashes a header wide left. That’s the closest Real have got, and the last act of a first half that PSG dominated. Real edged their way back into the game during the final few minutes, though, and will gain succour from that. Was Yash Gupta (34 min) onto something?
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45 min: Messi jigs across the face of the Real box, right to left, and thinks he’s worked space for a shot. He takes one, but the door’s quickly blocked by Casemiro. Real go up the other end, Vinicius winning their first corner of the evening down the left.
43 min: Mbappe races after a long pass down the left. He drops a shoulder to cut into the box, but immediately runs into trouble. The fans aren’t too happy with that, either, desperate to see the opening goal they had assumed was coming.
42 min: Real set up camp in the PSG half for the first time tonight. A lot of probing, this way and that. Carvajal is nearly released down the right by Modric’s cute pass. The combination doesn’t quite come off. But this is much better from Real, and the home fans are getting a little bit testy.
40 min: It’s one yellow each, as Verratti slides across Casemiro. That’s a very soft booking, with Veratti coming in from the side and making very little contact before Casemiro’s momentum took him over.
38 min: Casemiro sticks his knee into the back of Paredes, who isn’t happy and gets up in his opponent’s grille. Casemiro fends him off with a hand around the throat. The Real man is booked, and will miss the second leg at the Bernabeu.
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36 min: Benzema’s hustle in the centre circle sets up a Real break. He slips a ball down the middle and is this close to releasing Asensio. Mendes spots the danger and comes across to intercept, just in time. But for a couple of seconds there, Real had some space to work in for the first time this evening.
34 min: Real are slowly working their way back into the game, spending a little more time in the PSG half. They’re not doing a great deal when they get there, but small acorns and all that. Yash Gupta thinks this could all be part of a classic Madrid grift: “With Ancelotti being the manager, all the very best to PSG to try and nick a goal. But then if they don’t do that, which is likely, all the very best to PSG for lifting everyone’s spirit by going into meltdown mode.”
32 min: Messi does what Messi does, dribbling past a couple of folk down the inside-right channel and bursting into the box. He drags his shot across Courtois and harmlessly wide left. A small flash of the old Messi genius there, just for a second or two.
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30 min: Kroos hits an uncharacteristically witless free kick straight at first man Verratti. PSG clear their lines.
29 min: A rare sortie into PSG territory for Real. Vinicius Junior works his way down the left, and draws a foul from a clumsy Di Maria. A chance for Real to load the box. Kroos to whip one in.
28 min: Tell you what, though, poor Carvajal is being asked to earn every penny of his wages tonight. PSG are hammering at Real down this left flank.
26 min: Hakimi barges Mendy off the ball with absurd ease, then swings a cross in for Mbappe, who briefly considers lashing at a ball that sits up, Matthew Le Tissier style. But instead he slips wide left for Mendes, who diddles his way past Carvajal on the byline but can’t get a cross away. The ball breaks out for a goal kick. Real breathe another sigh of relief.
25 min: Can’t remember when Real last touched the ball in the PSG half. It’s been a while.
23 min: Mendes hits a shot-cum-cross from the left that Courtois does well to claim by the base of his near post.
22 min: Mbappe bursts into a bit of space down the left, then goes over under contact from Militao. He wants a free kick, just outside the Real box, but he’s not getting one. The referee is doing his best to let the game flow, but that took laissez-faire officiating to extremes.
20 min: Di Maria bustles down the right and wins PSG’s fourth corner of the evening. Not for the first time, the hosts over-elaborate and waste the corner. But Real surely can’t keep on like this. They’re creaking at the back, though they’ve not broken yet.
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18 min: Mbappe has Carvajal’s number, though, and gets in ahead of him down the inside-left channel. He shoots towards the bottom left. Courtois turns out for another corner. Danilo wins a header that flashes off the unaware Militao’s chest and into the arms of Courtois. Real are hanging on a little bit here.
17 min: Mendes and Mbappe tear up the left wing in tandem. Exchanging a couple of passes at speed, they nearly open up the backtracking Real defence, but Carvajal, who had been left sliding around on the turf earlier in the move, gets back to block, just as it looked as though Mbappe would stride clear into the box.
15 min: Mendy’s poor backpass nearly lets Di Maria in. Courtois does very well to whip the ball towards the safety of the stand under intense pressure. The hosts are well on top at the minute.
14 min: Hakimi has suddenly come to life down the Paris right. A couple of swift dribbles that nearly open up the Real defence. The visitors are struggling to get out of their final third right now.
13 min: Carvajal slips while attempting to clear, allowing Mbappe to romp off down the left again. The Real right back does well to recover and limit the damage to a corner, from which nothing occurs.
11 min: A reminder that away goals are no longer special in the Champions League. It’ll be interesting to see how the abolition of the old rule changes everyone’s approach.
9 min: PSG play the corner back down the left flank for Mendes, who sends a long diagonal ball out of play, to the right of the goal. Nobody in PSG blue had made a run to the far post.
8 min: Messi is seeing quite a bit of the ball in these early exchanges, dropping deep and constantly looking up to see if Mbappe is in space on the left. There he is! He wins another corner.
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6 min: Di Maria wins a corner down the right. PSG waste it. But this is a good start for the home side.
5 min: PSG take their turn to ping it around patiently. Suddenly they step on the pedal. Mbappe tears down the left, checks, then goes again to leave Carvajal in the dust. He reaches the byline and pulls back for Di Maria, who shins over from ten yards. A great chance and a wild finish, that.
3 min: Real pass it around the back awhile. It’s a period of sterile possession that encourages plenty of pantomime whistling from the home crowd.
1 min: The first roar of the evening as Mbappe turns gracefully into space and immediately sprays a pass wide right to Di Maria. The move fizzles out but what an early statement of intent by Mbappe.
Real Madrid get the ball rolling. “A ma$$ive €hampion$ £eague ¢la$h, thi$,” writes Peter Oh, though I’m not 100 percent sure what he’s trying to say.
The teams are out! PSG are in their dark-blue shirts with red trim, while Real Madrid sport first-choice meringue white. There was a lot of friendly chat between the two teams as the players waited in the tunnel. I do hope for the sake of his blood pressure that Roy Keane wasn’t watching that. Anyway, there’s a carnival European atmosphere in the Parc des Princes, despite the rain. We’ll be off in a minute.
Another preview? Why not.
A tale of two managers. Sid Lowe on the difference in tone between Carlo Ancelotti and Mauricio Pochettino.
A reminder of how these two teams got here. PSG finished behind Manchester City in Group A ...
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 6 | 8 | 12 |
| 2 | PSG | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 3 | RB Leipzig | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Club Brugge | 6 | -14 | 4 |
... while Real Madrid won Group D easily enough.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Real Madrid | 6 | 11 | 15 |
| 2 | Inter Milan | 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Sheriff | 6 | -4 | 7 |
| 4 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 6 | -10 | 2 |
Both teams have returning heroes to welcome back. Neymar could feature for PSG for the first time since November. He’s back from injury, taking up a place on the bench.
Real Madrid have been goal shy of late, so they’ll be pleased to name Karim Benzema in their starting line-up again. Gareth Bale drops to the bench.
The teams
Paris Saint-Germain: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Nuno Mendes, Danilo Pereira, Paredes, Verratti, Di Maria, Messi, Mbappe.
Subs: Simons, Navas, Icardi, Neymar, Dagba, Wijnaldum, Kurzawa, Ander Herrera, Diallo, Draxler, Kehrer, Gueye.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal, Eder Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Modric, Casemiro, Kroos, Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
Subs: Nacho, Hazard, Marcelo, Lunin, Valverde, Jovic, Lucas, Bale, Ceballos, Rodrygo, Isco, Camavinga.
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy).
Preamble
Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have met in knockout football on three previous occasions. They won the first couple: a spectacular comeback in the quarter-finals of the Uefa Cup in 1993 from 3-1 down to win 5-4 on aggregate, and a more serene aggregate victory of 2-1 at the same stage of the Cup Winners’ Cup 12 months later. But they took a proper thumping on the last one, a 5-2 aggregate victory for Real in the Champions League round of 16 in 2018. However, throw in a 3-0 home win in Paris the groups in 2019, plus a late two-goal comeback to force a 2-2 draw in the corresponding fixture at the Bernabeu, and on balance this is a rivalry that has historically favoured the French.
Advantage Paris? Well, perhaps, but though they’re top of Ligue 1, the mood music isn’t perfect. They’ve recently been knocked out of the French Cup, Lionel Messi is in underwhelming form, and the futures of Kylian Mbappé and Mauricio Pochettino are up in the air. Whether Real can take advantage is another issue: they’re top of the league back home, too, but have only scored one goal in their last three games, and are desperate for the return of Karim Benzema, who may or may not return from injury tonight.
All set up nicely, then. The glamour tie of the round kicks off at 9pm at the Parc des Princes, 8pm GMT. It’s on!
