French star, Kylian Mbappe, scored the opener as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) took a big step towards reaching the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Real Sociedad in the first leg of their last-16 tie, while Bayern Munich were defeated 1-0 by Lazio on Wednesday night.
The mediocrity of PSG’s first-half performance at the Parc des Princes may have had their supporters fearing another in a long line of disappointing results down the years in the Champions League knockout stages.
But Mbappe, who is expected to leave PSG at the end of the season when his contract expires, broke the deadlock from close range just before the hour mark.
Bradley Barcola’s well-taken goal in the 70th minute then made it 2-0 to give the French champions a comfortable cushion to take to Spain for the return early next month.
“We managed to score at key moments. We are happy with this first step. There is still a lot of work to do but it is good to be going there with the advantage,” Mbappe said after the game.
In the other game, Ciro Immobile fired Lazio towards a first Champions League quarter-final in nearly a quarter of a century in 1-0 win over Bayern which plunged the German champions deeper into crisis.
Italy forward Immobile slotted home the last 16, first leg’s decisive goal from the penalty spot in the 69th minute in Rome to pile pressure on Bundesliga champions Bayern, who risk having a disastrous season by their own exalted standards.
The spot-kick was won by Gustav Isaksen who was clattered by Dayot Upamecano with a rash tackle which earned the France defender a red card and left Bayern a man down for the final 20 minutes.
Immobile’s strike came days after he netted his 200th Serie A goal and allowed a raucous Lazio home crowd to dream of a first quarter-final in Europe’s top competition in 24 years.
Lazio won the Italian title the last time they reached the quarter-finals in 2000, when they fell to Valencia in the last eight.
And in order to emulate that star-studded team which featured the likes of Juan Sebastian Veron, Marcelo Salas, and Sinisa Mihajlovic, Maurizio Sarri’s side still need to hold out in Bavaria next month.
However, Bayern are a club in a slump and a toothless display in the Italian capital in which they didn’t have a single shot on target will do nothing to help embattled coach Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel, who described his side’s performance as “a little bit slapstick”, denied that he is concerned for his future even though Wednesday’s defeat came after a 3-0 thumping at Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday which left Bayern five points off the pace in the German title race.
