UEFA Champions League
PSG Blitz Manchester United
Paris Saint-German are confident of their chances of advancing to the quarterfinal of the Champions League after they dominated Manchester United. Kylian Mbappe starred at Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tasted defeat for the first time as the Manchester United boss. The 2-0 victory away from home will be hard to throw away. However, PSG infamously lost 6-1 to Barcelona in 2017 to suffer a 4-0 first leg lead.
Injuries Play No Part For PSG
The pre-match talk was all focused around the injuries to Neymar and Edinson Cavani. Both forwards missed the first leg, but were not missed by their teams for the most part. Kylian Mbappe took over this match and made us forget his star teammates were gone. It is unclear if Neymar will play a part in the second leg, but Cavani is expected to be fit by then.
Manchester United were the ones who suffered the most with injuries. Both Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial were taken off with injuries they picked up in the match. Lingard was taken off during first half stoppage time and Martial was subbed off at halftime. Those injuries will need to be assessed, but if they miss the second leg, United’s chances of turning the tie around are slim.
Late Red Card
Manchester United’s World Cup winning midfielder Paul Pogba was sent off for a second yellow card in the 89th minute. Consequently, he will serve a one match ban and miss the second leg of the tie. He was undoubtedly looking forward to playing in Paris, but has no one to blame but himself. The second yellow was heavily debated after the match, but it was the right call. In my opinion, the challenge would have been a yellow card had he not already been booked.
Second Leg
The second leg will take place at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, March 6th. The French champions are looking to shed their European hoodoo and this will be a big step. If they could play this well at Old Trafford, they should have enough in the tank to finish off the tie at home.
Photo credit to PSG_English via Twitter
