At the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday night, Paris Saint-Germain defeated a determined Juventus team, but the victory was insufficient to give them the group’s top spot.
Although Leonardo Bonucci’s goal and goals from Kylian Mbappe and Nuno Mendes secured the victory, Benfica’s 6-1 victory over Maccabi Haifa ensures that team will finish first in the group on away goals.
Juventus started the game quite brightly, with runners from deep in midfield troubling the PSG defence despite their injuries and general incompetence thus far this season. One of these midfield forays forward would result in a vicious Manuel Locatelli strike from outside the box in the eighth minute, which would just miss the post.
However, the promising start of Juventus was short-lived as the visitors eventually took the lead in the 14th minute as a result of some magic from one of PSG’s top forwards.
The forward in question was Kylian Mbappe, who deftly avoided Locatelli as he was sliding before launching the ball past Wojciech Szczesny, off the post, and into the goal.
Juventus continued to advance more frequently than PSG, but each time the visitors entered the offensive third, they appeared to be on the verge of scoring. A quick exchange between Mbappe and Lionel Messi resulted in the latter forcing Szczesny into an awkward save at his near post. Mbappe saw a few good shots just miss the crossbar.
The home team then produced some quality to tie the score. Juan Cuadrado was the recipient of Locatelli’s beautiful chipped pass over the top of the PSG defence. Instead of controlling, Juan Cuadrado skillfully headed back across goal to the unmarked Leonardo Bonucci who has been able to slide the ball home.
Up until Benfica took control against Maccabi Haifa in the second half, PSG needed to win to finish first in the group. However, the second half was rather tedious. Nuno Mendes, a raiding full-back for the Parisiens, gave them the lead again in the 68th minute as the game quickened. After receiving a deft pass in behind from Mbappe, the Portuguese international had barely been on the field for a minute when he raced on goal and shot hard across goal and into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Juve supporters were still quite pleased despite falling behind because Federico Chiesa returned from the bench in the 74th minute after nearly a year away due to a knee injury. As soon as Chiesa was introduced, Juve had the ball in the back of the net, showing that the fans’ energy had apparently spread to the field as well.
After Gianluigi Donnarumma made a save, Locatelli reacted swiftest at the back post to tap the ball in, but the offside flag was quickly raised to put an end to the celebrations.
With a 2-1 victory over Juventus at the Allianz Stadium, Paris Saint-Germain finishes first in Group H of the Champions League. Before halftime, Leonardo Bonucci tied the score for the Bianconeri after Kylian Mbappe had given the visitors the lead. Nuno Mendes, however, came off the bench to give the French team the three points in the second half. Despite winning tonight, PSG is placed second in Group H as a result of Benfica’s 6-1 victory over Maccabi Haifa, which gave the Portuguese team the advantage on away goals scored. When the ties are made for the round of 16, it could be very interesting. Despite losing, Juventus now moves on to the Europa League after finishing third.
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