For the Spanish giants Real Madrid it was a horrible night in the Champions League round-of-16 first leg as they suffered an excruciating 1-0 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Paris. French striker Kylian Mbappe scored a late winner to give his side a crucial victory, despite Lionel Messi seeing his penalty being saved in the 62nd minute of the match. Two teams will face each other in the second leg fixture next month.
Poor display
The 13-time European champions had an awful outing as they were totally outplayed by the French side. Real’s dismal show was clearly evident as they could not even manage to hit a single shot on target, on the other hand, PSG had registered eight shots.
Earlier, Mbappe and Argentine striker Angel Di Maria got two golden minutes, in the first half but due to their poor finishing the hosts could not secure a vital lead.
In the second half, Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal fouled Mbappe inside the penalty box and the referee awarded PSG a penalty but Real Madrid’s Belgian custodian Thibaut Courtois made a brilliant save to thwart PSG from having a lead. With this penalty miss Messi failed to score in his last eight appearances against Real Madrid.
Late winner
In the 94th minute, Mbappe found the back of the net after he calmly slid the ball into the far corner. With this goal, the 23-year-old striker got directly involved in 52 goals in 52 appearances (32 goals and 20 assists).
On the other hand, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti might have been relieved to have his striker Karim Benzema in the starting line-up but the French attacker did not seem to be fully recovered in the match.
For Carlo Ancelotti his defense, comprised of David Alaba, Eder Militao, Carvajal and Ferland Mendy, appeared to be lackluster as Mbappe and Di Maria kept on finding gaps in the opponent’s defense throughout the game.
Man City's domination
On the other hand, English giants Manchester City, had a comfortable victory after they thrashed Sporting CP 5-0, in the away fixture of Champions League round-of-16 first leg.
For Manchester City, their Portuguese striker Bernardo Silva scored a brace, as Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden scored a goal each.
