Soccer / psg vs real madrid

Kylian Mbappe scored a last gasp winner on Tuesday night at the Parc de Princes to give Paris Saint Germain a 1-0 advantage in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie against Real Madrid. In a game that was thoroughly dominated by the home side, Mbappe who looked the most likely score got the winner with the last action of the game as Lionel Messi saw a penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois. Four changes were made by Mauricio Pochettino from his squad that defeated Reims in Ligue 1. Gianluigi Donnarumma was given the nod ahead of Keylor Navas and Neymar was only fit enough to start from the bench. Carlo Ancelloti enforced three changes on his side from their barren draw against Villarreal over the weekend. Karim Benzema returned in time to lead his team from the front, with Marcelo dropping to the bench for Ferland Mendy at left back. The home side took the game to their visitors early on and throughout with Mbappe orchestrating things. The Frenchman was a thorn in the flesh of his potential new teammates, tearing into the defence at will. His first chance created for Angel Di Maria was skyed by the Argentine before her went himself in the 18th minute to force Courtois to make a save with his foot as PSG got a corner. The resulting corner saw Danilo's header deflect off David Alaba, making Courtois scramble to make a save as the first half wore on without many goal-scoring opportunities, despite PSG seeing more of the ball. The Belgian shot stopper was on hand again to deny Mbappe after Achraf Hakimi sent a cross that was well controlled and unleashed by the French attacker. Lionel Messi who had been quiet on the edges throughout the came despite his heavy contribution to the PSG attack, had his first shot at goal which he could only send straight at Courtois. The current World Player of the Year would then take center stage on the hour mark when PSG won a penalty. Daniel Carvajal tried to win the ball on a stretch, but Mbappe was too quick an the defender could only bring him down in the box. Messi's kick to the bottom right corner was excellently saved by Courtois. The introduction of Neymar with 17 minutes to go looked to change the complexion of the game, even though they had to wait till the final minute of additional time. The Brazilian had seen an effort flash across the face of goal when played through by Messi. He would, however, turn provider with a classy backheel that was taken on by Mbappe, who went between two Real Madrid defenders before sitting beneath the legs of Courtois into the bottom right corner. Concluding Thoughts It's fair to say that we got the kind of match that we anticipated as the game was end-to-end despite goal-scoring chances being limited, with both teams trying to keep compact and contain the other. Kylian Mbappe deservedly got the winner having caused much trouble for Real Madrid all through the game. He was direct and ready to take on the Madrid defence at every opportunity he got. When PSG signed Lionel Messi he was obviously brought in for big moments like this and many may have been left disappointed with his quiet performance which culminated in his missed penalty on the hour mark. The scoreline does not really reflect how things panned out as PSG were able to shut out Real Madrid such that the former European champions couldn't muster a single sit on target throughout the game. It was that frustrating for the Los Blancos. PSG pressed them high and it made life difficult for the visitors who couldn't string passes together and hence, couldn't bring their most influential players, Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema much into the game like they'd have loved. They now have it all to do in the second leg.