AfriPulse
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Bayern Munich 5-4 in their thrilling UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg clash on Tuesday.
The exhilarating, end-to-end encounter, in which both teams went all out attacking, produced nine goals littered with world class strikes and excellent team moves.
French champions PSG had three goalscorers, with both Ousmanne Dembele and Kvicha Kvaratskhelia scoring twice each, while Bayern had four different goalscorers.
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PSG named an unchanged starting line-up from the team that thrashed Chelsea in the quarter-final, while Bayern Munich made just one change with Alphonse Davis replacing Konrad Laimer in defence.
The visitors fired the first salvo through Harry Kane’s penalty for a foul on Luis Diaz on 17 minutes, the Englishman netting the 13th goal of the season’s UCL campaign. PSG however responded with a fine solo goal by Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, his curling effort from the edge of the penalty box rifled into the back of the net to restore parity.
The hosts then went ahead through Joao Neves’ well placed header from Dembele’s corner kick on 33 minutes, but Bayern equalized through the excellent Michael Olise who weaved through space centrally before slamming his shot beyond the goalkeeper for 2-2.
More drama was witnessed in added minutes when Davies was adjudged to have held the ball in the box following VAR review, and the penalty awarded to PSG was expertly converted by Dembele for his brace, and the 3-2 scoreline at the halftime break set the record for highest number of goals in the first half of a UCL semi-final match.
The UCL champions PSG scored twice in two minutes in the second half as both sides went for the jugular in front of their fans, Kvaratskhelia completed his brace with the finishing touch to a team move for 4-2 on 56 minutes, before Ballon d’Or winner Dembele completed his two minutes later to open a three-goal lead for PSG.
Bayern were missing coach Vincent Kompany who served a touchline ban, but they mounted another comeback with two goals of theirs within three minutes. First, Upamecano headed home Joshua Kimmich’s floated free-kick for 5-3, before Diaz beat the offside trap and slotted home for 5-4.
PSG however calmed fray nerves to hold on and claim the 5-4 win despite a late onslaught on their defence by Bayern for a high tempo finish. The nine-goal scoreline makes the match the highest goals scored in a single UCL semi-final match in the competition’s history.
Both sides meet in Germany next week at the Allianz Arena to decide who advances to the final to be played in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30.
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Source: DailyTrust | Read the Full Story…
