Oviri Kelvin, Sports Editor, Abuja
Paris Saint-Germain narrowly secured a win over Spanish giant, Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 in Parc des Princes.
The home team yesterday through its forward Kylian Mbappe scored a late goal to give PSG a glimpse of hope into the quarterfinals after Thibaut Courtois saved Lionel Messi’s spot-kick in the 62nd minute.
After Lionel Messi missed the penalty kick, it was almost done for PSG to record a barren goalless draw in the French capital.
Real Madrid’s goalkeeper had guessed correctly to push away Lionel Messi’s low-left-handed spot-kick, from putting PSG ahead into a corner kick.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side dominated almost the entire match with Kylian Mbappe’s effort denied two times by the acrobatic display of Courtois before Messi was handed a penalty conceded through a silly tackle by Carvajal on Mbappe inside the penalty box.
Both Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola made a lot of changes to drive strategic game plans as the host featured the Brazilian Neyman who had been out of action for about four months as a result of an ankle injury while the visitors introduced Gareth Bale who could hardly make his impact felt.
It was not until the last minute of injury time, that Meyman released Mbappe through a tricky back-heel pass down the left side of the pitch, and briskly the striker was one on one with Real Madrid’s goalkeeper.
Nevertheless, Mbappe was in a tight spot to score but took cool to side-foot the ball past Courtois to record his 22nd goal of the season for PSG.
However, Real Madrid will be getting set to turn around the one against them to reach the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League when they host PSG on March 9 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
