FC Bayern took a grip on their Round of 16 Champions League clash away to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, as Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the game to give his former employers a European headache.
The ex PSG star volleyed home the winner early in the second half to stun the Parc des Prince crowd and the hosts’ Qatari owners, who are desperate to win the Champions League. But they will have to overturn this deficit when they visit Munich on 8th March or it will be curtains again.
They hosts were at full strength with Lionel Messi declared fit to start and Kylian Mbappe on the bench, and they also blooded midfielder Warren Zaire-Emery who, at 16 years and 343 days, became the youngest ever player to start a Champions League knockout fixture.
Coman scored on 53 minutes and Christophe Galtier brought Mbappe on four minutes later and the World Cup top scorer thought he’d levelled, late in the game, when he smashed a cross from Nuno Mendes into the roof of the net. But as the home crowd celebrated wildly VAR was hard at worked and found that Mendes was a whisker offside in the build up. Hard as they tried PSG couldn’t beat Yann Sommer in the Bayern goal and that meant it was three losses on the run for the French champions, having recently fallen to Monaco in the league and Olympique Marseilles in the Coupe de France. The Champions League 2023 betting odds have drifted away from Paris and now they need to cause an upset in March.
Coman also scored the winner when Bayern beat PSG to win the 2020 Champions League three years ago and the Parisiens will find it hard to get him out of their minds.
Adeyemi too fast for Chelsea
The Dortmund Yellow Wall is one of the most daunting sights a visiting player can witness, but Graham Potter’s Chelsea kept the Borussia fans quiet, for a half at least. At the break the hosts were winning the shot count by 11 to five but neither team had a single effort on target. Joao Felix came close twice for Chelsea while Sebastian Haller was the nearest BVB player to break the deadlock, but his shot went into the side netting.
But a breakaway goal slotted home by Karim Adeyemi, the fastest player in the Bundesliga, made it 1-0 on the hour. He outpaced Enzo Fernandez before gliding past Kepa and slotting the ball into the net.
Chelsea really had a go and ended up winning the shot count by 20 to 14, and centre back Kalidou Koulibaly almost levelled but his effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by Emre Can; and that meant Adeyemi’s goal was enough to give BVB the advantage.
Tottenham fans are not happy
In the other Tuesday game AC Milan beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Brahim Diaz. Here at SBOTOP we previewed the game, predicting a low scoring affair and so it was as, in a cagey affair, neither side deserved to add to the scoring after Diaz poked the ball home from close range with just seven minutes on the clock. It could have been worse for Spurs though as Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw both missed headed chances when they should have scored. And, though the North London side is still well in the tie, a section of their fans are becoming increasingly frustrated by the style of play under Antonio Conte, particularly having been thumped 4-1 by Leicester City last weekend. The boss said: I know the San Siro and I know the difficulty to play with this atmosphere,” which is all well and good, but Tottenham fans want to see their side scoring goals and winning games. They currently sit outside the top four in the Premier League and supporters groups have been hoping for a change at the top, but owners say the club is not for sale unless an astronomical offer comes in.
Advantage Benfica
In the fourth of this week’s Champions League 2023 results Benfica took a two goal lead away from their first leg tie against Club Brugges in Belgium. After a goalless first half the visitors broke the deadlock on 50 minutes. Jack Hendry felled Goncalo Ramos in the penalty area and Joao Mario slammed the spot kick into the top right corner. Benfica made it 0-2 when David Neres slotted home in the dying minutes and Benfica have one foot in the quarter finals.
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