⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain ⚽️ ⚽️
PSG did not win their game against Bayern Munich yesterday. In fact, they lost their home game, 1-0.
Many expected Bayern Munich to win. Historically, they have enjoyed serious success on the international scene much more than has PSG. Joshua Kimmich -- arguably the best No. 6 in the world -- said that he was "convinced Bayern would go through, because they are the best team in the world."
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored in the 40th minute, managing to get Bayern Munich ahead early, in time for the halftime break. However, while they did successfully manage to hold PSG off, not allowing a single goal and successfully blanking them, they still in effect lost.
Why?
Because PSG did not need to win. They could even afford to lose, so long as they did not lose by more than one goal, and did not allow Bayern Munich to score more goals in Paris than PSG scored in Munich. By vitue of this aggregate, PSG won, for all intent and purposes, despite the loss.
PSG now advances to the semifinal round of UEFA Championships for a second year in a row.
Immediately after the game at Parc des Princes ended, the Brazilian superstar celebrated with Leandro Paredes very near to Kimmich's face, which Neymar later claimed was unintention, although he did suggest that this was down to fate. Kimmich had been the one who had made the prediction that Bayern Munich would get past PSG and would win it all, and clearly, PSG players had heard the quote and used it as motivation.
"It's funny, because I didn't even celebrate to mess with him; it was more with Leo, and I ended up celebrating with him. It was fate that put me close to [Kimmich]."
This has been a year where PSG has managed to slay ghosts of the past. They defeated three major European clubs that had haunted them in recent years, symbolizing past failures. They knocked off Manchester United earlier in this tournament, beat Lionel Messi and Barcelona in the last round, and now, they knock off the team that knocked them out last year, the defending UEFA world champions, Bayern Munich, who blanked PSG, 1-0, in last year's final.
Below is the link to the article from which I obtained much of the information used in this particular blog entry, as well as the source of the quote used in the same:
First Barcelona, now Bayern: PSG and Neymar are banishing their Champions League demons, by Julien Laurens, Correspondent for ESPN, April 13, 2021:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/paris-saint-germain/story/4359403/first-barcelonanow-bayern-psg-and-neymar-are-banishing-their-champions-league-demons
Both semifinals are now set: PSG vs. Manchester City, and Real Madrid vs. Chelsea. Once again, PSG will have the relative advantage of hosting the return leg, though in both of their previous series they actually played better on the road. I'm cautiously optimistic PSG will make it to the final for the second straight year, even if Manchester City should not be taken lightly.
ReplyDeleteI was apparently wrong about PSG hosting the return leg - it seems that the first leg will be in Paris, with the second one being in Manchester.
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