UCL: Mbappé fires PSG into quarterfinals; Bayern secure comeback win to progress
Kylian Mbappé struck twice as Paris beat Real Sociedad 2-1 to wrap up a comfortable aggregate victory and book their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
Mbappé was in majestic form in San Sebastián. His first on the night started when he turned his marker to race on to Ousmane Dembélé’s through ball and finished with his whipped shot from a tight angle – sandwiched between those actions was a quite brilliant explosion of pace followed by a brief pause to buy space.
Alejandro Remiro denied Mbappé with his toe just before the half-hour to keep the hosts in the hunt, even if Takefusa Kubo’s speculative shot on the stroke of the interval was as close as they came.
Paris were out of sight on 56 minutes. Kang-in Lee was the provider on this occasion, Mbappé again the recipient, the left channel again his area of execution. The visiting skipper cut inside, feigned to bend the ball around Remiro but instead struck low into his near bottom corner. Vintage Mbappé.
La Real rallied, Martin Zubimendi, Beñat Turrientes and Jon Ander Olasagasti all going close before Mikel Merino’s late effort, but Mbappé had long since done the damage.
Bayern began the second leg under pressure after a meek showing in their 1-0 defeat in Rome, but an early chance for the recalled Leroy Sané set the tone for a dominant first-half display by the hosts.
Another fresh face among the starting line-ups, Ciro Immobile, ended a prolonged spell of Bayern pressure by heading wide when well-placed to double the visitors’ aggregate advantage, and Lazio rued that miss as Harry Kane pounced to nod his 50th European goal and draw his side level with his fifth of his club’s European campaign.
Lazio then suffered a hammer blow when Thomas Müller connected with Matthijs de Ligt’s exquisite strike to head in from close range and give the six-time champions the lead in the tie for the first time, hastening the momentum which Thomas Tuchel’s players built upon after the break.
Kane capitalised further when Ivan Provedel could only push Sané’s whipped cross into his path, producing a typically composed finish on a night when his goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, had precious little to do. On this emphatically rediscovered form, Bayern will have few fears in the quarter-finals.
