UCL: PSG Make U-turn Right Into First Semis Since ’95
Champions League debutants, Atalanta squared up against French Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint-Germain who boast a regular presence in the UEFA Champions League last night for an existing first ever champions leagues encounter.
The game between the Italian side and PSG was pretty much a date with history, as PSG headed into the fixture in search of a place beyond the Champions League quarter finals and into the Semi-finals for the first time since 1995, having been knocked out the competition at this stage in 4 previous occasions, while high flying, free scoring, Atalanta on the other hand, looked to sashay into the quarter finals in what has been a fairy-tale season for the Seria A team.
The wonder team who scored 98 goals in 38 games in the just concluded Serie A campaign took the lead in the 26th minute when Mario Pasalic curled a shot past former Real Madrid No. 1, Keylor Navas into the back of the net.
The Parisians who would have taken the lead in the 5th minute but for a miss by Brazilian star, Neymar, tried getting back into the game, but even that seemed very elusive as they kept recording one miss from another, a situation that left forward, Neymar very frustrated.
To shake things up and intensify the attack, after the break, PSG coach, Thomas Tuchel introduced Frenchman, Kylian Mbappe who just returned from an injury sustained in July to pair with Neymar but even the youngster’s first chance in the 73rd minute wound up as a miss.
Things remained gloomy for Tuchel’s men until 5 minutes to stoppage time when an equalizer from Marquinhos raised their hopes and handed them a silver lining they capitalized on to pull a complete and dramatic comeback thanks to Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s winner at the brink of stoppage time.
The unexpected and shocking turn of things all but left Atalanta completely shattered.
Both teams had good fighting chances last night, but it was Paris Saint-Germain who just somehow managed to hand out the last punch to the absolute delight of their manger and the whole team
The French Champions will face the winner of tonight’s game between Atletico Madrid and RB Leipzig in the Semi-finals on Thursday.
PSG might have won the game, but Atalanta stole hearts
