Paris Saint-Germain, who were already playing their season in C1 this Wednesday, December 13 in Dortmund, qualified for the round of 16 by drawing against the Germans (1-1). In the other meeting of the same group, AC Milan won against Newcastle (2-1).
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Avoiding the worst in the bustling atmosphere of Dortmund and qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League in order to ward off the crisis that such an early elimination would cause, such was the challenge for Paris Saint-Germain for this last day of the group F.
This Wednesday evening, Luis Enrique’s players were able to finish at the top of the group with a victory. Or, finish second behind the Ruhr club, if they draw and Newcastle do not win against Milan. Or if they lost and Newcastle and Milan ended in a draw.
Warren Zaire-Emery, providential man
In order not to leave the back door, Paris especially had to change its face on the outside, after the defeat against Newcastle at St James’ Park and that against AC Milan at San Siro. Above all, Paris had to count on its star striker, Kylian Mbappé, not at the top this season in the Champions League.
And the Frenchman had to bite his fingers after his only shot in the first period, from the left, into an empty cage. Niklas Süle returned and saved Dortmund with an acrobatic gesture (17e).
Other actions, other regrets: the right post on a curled shot from the right by Bradley Barcola (20e) and a strike from Randal Kolo Muani flush with the right post (26e). At the end of the first period, Kolo Muani narrowly missed against the German goalkeeper, his shot from a tight angle was repelled by Kobel’s right knee (45e).
Paris finally found the way to the goals with the young Warren Zaire-Emery, elected man of the match, who scored his first goal in the Champions League at the age of 17, with a low right strike ( 56e). A few minutes earlier, Adeyemi had opened the scoring from the left (51e). While Mbappé had crossed his shot too much in the 72nde minute, his goal after a deep pass from Achraf Hakimi will be refused for offside (76e).
Despite this qualification for the eighth, the Parisians have not yet achieved a benchmark match away from the Parc des Princes in the Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain takes second place in its group with 8 points behind Dortmund. The Rouge et Bleu finished this group stage with two wins, two draws and two defeats.
The draw for the round of 16 will take place on Monday December 18.