Champions League: Dominant Bayern survive late drama to beat PSG, Milan lead against Spurs
Paris may be the city of love, but this Valentine’s Day meeting reignited a familiar feud, as two of Europe’s giants met in the UCL knockout stages for the sixth time since 2017. Bayern imposed themselves in the early stages, although nobody was on hand to finish when João Cancelo and Kingsley Coman delivered inviting crosses into the box. And when Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting finally got himself in at the back post on the half-hour mark, Nuno Mendes did brilliantly to match the Cameroonian and deflect the ball wide.
Sergio Ramos was proving to be the main man for PSG, impressively preventing Jamal Musiala from reaching Pavard’s through ball and heading away various crosses. One of those headers fell to Joshua Kimmich, whose clean strike from the edge of the box was expertly held by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
But PSG’s hopes of a precious clean sheet were soon dashed, and Bayern’s opener finally came after the hour mark, when substitute Alphonso Davies delivered a pinpoint cross for Coman. With the savagery of a scorned ex-lover, he capitalised on a complete lack of awareness from PSG’s defence, opening the scoring against his former side with his fourth goal in three games across all competitions.
Christophe Galtier swiftly turned to Kylian Mbappé, but when he broke behind despite being visibly uncomfortable, the Parisian talisman was denied by Yann Sommer, Neymar’s follow-ups were blocked, and Mbappé was caught offside when he put the ball in the net. Moments after Thomas Müller squandered an opportunity, Mbappé’s celebrations were cut short yet again, when Mendes was flagged marginally offside before teeing him up.
PSG were tearing forward now, with Messi being denied by Pavard’s block and Vitinha firing straight at Sommer. Pavard had been superb throughout most of the match, but picked up a second yellow card late on for a sliding tackle on Messi. Even so, Bayern held onto their advantage ahead of the second leg at the Allianz Arena, and they remain unbeaten away from home at this UCL stage in over a decade. Meanwhile, PSG have now lost five matches in 2023 – more than they did in 2022’s entirety.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich)
Friday’s unconvincing yet crucial 1-0 win over Torino ended a miserable seven-game winless run for Milan who were making their first appearance in the UCL knockout rounds in nine years. They marked their long-awaited return to the last 16 with a goal inside six minutes despite Fraser Forster, who was playing his first UCL game since 2013, doing his utmost to keep the hosts at bay. First, the Tottenham goalkeeper denied Théo Hernandez, and he so nearly pulled off a miraculous save to thwart Díaz, but the Real Madrid loanee reacted quickest to bundle the ball over the line on the rebound.
Spurs were off the boil in Saturday’s demoralising 4-1 defeat to Leicester City, and they continued to offer very little in the first half at the San Siro until Son Heung-min forced Ciprian Tătărușanu into a fine stop. Harry Kane promptly followed up to thump the ball against the crossbar before the assistant eventually raised the offside flag.
After conceding 18 goals in seven games across all competitions in January, Milan boss Stefano Pioli has switched to a back three in recent games, and their newfound resilience was stifling Tottenham’s attacking efforts. With Milan’s rearguard remaining watertight, Pape Matar Sarr attempted to mark his first UCL appearance with an ambitious long-range effort, which was comfortably gathered by Tătărușanu.
Within a minute of entering the field of play, Rossoneri substitute Charles De Ketelaere wasted a golden opportunity to grab a second, heading wide from close-range. Just moments later, Milan players and supporters had their heads in hands once again when Malick Thiaw failed to keep his header on target after rising high to meet Rafael Leão’s teasing delivery.
As it proved, an attritional first leg failed to produce another goal, ensuring the tie remains on a knife-edge. Pioli can celebrate the fact his first UCL knockout game as manager ended in a victory, while consecutive defeats will be a slight concern for Spurs manager Antonio Conte on his return to the San Siro..
Flashscore Man of the Match: Brahim Díaz (AC Milan)