PSG forward Kylian Mbappe scored a brace to steer the visitors to a 3-2 victory over defending champions Bayern Munich in a thrilling Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.
On a snowy evening in Munich, Mbappe fired in his 8th goal of the competition in the 68th minute after Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting in the 37th and Thomas Mueller in the 60th minute canceled out a two-goal direct from PSG.
It was Bayern’s first Champions League loss in two or more years and the first-ever for coach Hansi Flick, who was unbeaten in his past 16 games in Europe’s premier club competition.
“I’m happy with the end result and also the mindset of the group, who found themselves in difficult situations against the best side in Europe,” PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said. “We need to congratulate the players for their sacrifice and we wish to repeat this sort of performance.
It’s a good outcome but the return leg will be difficult. We know that” he added.
Despite defensive mistakes, the Germans will still be wondering how they failed to earn at least a stage with 31 target efforts to PSG’s six, 15 corners to one, and a string of golden chances.
The French champions were brutally efficient and scored using their second chance of the match when Neymar picked out Marquinhos with a pinpoint cross and the PSG captain conquer Neuer in the 28th minute.
BAYERN MUNICH COMEBACK
Marquinos went off injured instantly after scoring along with the protector’s lack dealt a setback to Mauricio Pochettino’s backline before replacement Ander Herrera could pay in.
Bayern quickly took charge of the game and came close through Mueller and Choupo-Moting, who was replacing the injured Robert Lewandowski.
Choupo-Moting had led onto the crossbar in the second minute but did better with the other header and Mueller attracted the host’s level, nodding at a Joshua Kimmich free-kick.
The 22-year-old Mbappe then scored again, drilling from a tight angle and also two defenders in front of him to put PSG back ahead.
“It was a difficult game against the best team in Europe at this time,” Mbappe explained. “But it’s just the first game. (Next week) we’ve got to play with confidence and perform again like a team.”
“It was a superb team performance overall and I profited from that. We endured, but we endured as a team.”
PSG needed to survive intense late strain from Bayern, together with David Alaba and Mueller going agonizingly close for the hosts, but hung on for victory before next week’s return leg in Paris.
“We should have scored much more targets,” Mueller said. Of course, we can chat about accomplishing goals but should you win 6-3 or 5-3 then no one can complain.”
“If we’d revealed the killer instinct which disturbs us then it’d have been another game.”
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