Borussia Dortmund – PSG: story of a completely unbreathable evening!

Sometimes you have to approach hell to get close to paradise. As they take the road to Dortmund airport this Wednesday evening, Luis Enrique’s men should, more than ever, be aware of this. Frustrated, Kylian Mbappé will perhaps take more time to establish this observation. Under pressure before facing the Marsupials on the last day of the group stage of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain nevertheless verged on correction and a new disaster scenario on the European scene. Story of an evening where the capital club enjoyed, for many minutes, a future in the Europa League before being reborn in the most prestigious competition organized by UEFA.

PSG was eliminated at the break!

Second in group F when they entered the pitch at Signal Iduna Park, the teammates of young Warren Zaire-Emery were nevertheless pumped up. It must be said that the opportunity was great. As a reminder, in the event of a victory against Borussia Dortmund, PSG ensured qualification and first place in the group. All without worrying about the final result in the match between Newcastle and AC Milan. It will ultimately have been quite different. Between the F5 key largely damaged by numerous journalists present in the BvB den to ensure that the Magpies were not (already) destroying the European dreams of the City of Lights and the anguish perceptible on the faces of certain supporters who came to encourage Luis Enrique’s band, the atmosphere was unbreathable until the last moments, or almost.

Quickly jostled in this decisive clash and far too clumsy in the face of the opposing goal, PSG – which was also guilty of certain defensive generosity – did not crack (0-0). Yes, but here, in Germany, the capital club, was surely watching with some interest the unfolding of events a few thousand kilometers from the BvB lair and perhaps even more so when Joelinton decided to clean Mike’s left corner Maignan on the pitch at St James’ Park (1-0, 33rd). Direct consequence? At this precise moment, the Ile-de-France team was transferred to the Europa League and therefore eliminated from the C1. A dreaded scenario and a nightmare which would even be confirmed a few minutes later…

Luis Enrique’s men on the brink of the abyss!

While the Magpies maintained their slight advantage on the scoreboard and the hour of play was coming to an end across the Channel, PSG, clinging to the break, ended up completely sinking. Taking advantage of a defense, as amorphous as it was technically imprecise, Karim Adeyemi further consolidated the European future of the Toons (1-0, 51st). At the bottom of the hole, the Parisian collective would nevertheless find a glimmer of hope. First through his new hero, Warren Zaire-Emery, author of a decisive strike at the entrance to the penalty area (1-1, 56th), then thanks to a certain Christian Pulisic, who restarted almost at the same time the Rossoneri (1-1, 59th). With this double draw, the Rouge et Bleu temporarily regained their second place.

A place that Luis Enrique’s gang was ultimately no longer going to leave, despite a strike from Bruno Guimarães, diverted by Mike Maignan onto his own crossbar (69th), which could have pushed PSG back into its torpor. Still not very skillful offensively and sometimes very unstable collectively, the Parisian club – very close to liberating itself on a goal from Kylian Mbappé (finally refused for an offside position at the start of the action, 77th) – was blowing definitely at the end of the meeting. After a post from Rafael Leão (79th), new entrant Samuel Chukwueze deceived Martin Dubravka (1-2, 84th) and thus sent the Milanese to C3. Above all, it offered, from a distance, a qualification in the round of 16 of the Champions League for PSG. If this scenario satisfied Luis Enrique as much as it frustrated Kylian Mbappé, annoyed to see his teammates playing for time, the Spanish technician did not fail to justify himself a few moments after the release.

Zaire-Emery restarts his team, Milan finishes the job…

“I didn’t see the score until the 85th minute. We knew we were dependent on our result. We had to win this match. At halftime, we said it again. If you started thinking about the other outcome, it would have been disastrous. In the 85th minute, as Milan’s victory qualified us, I asked my players to take fewer risks. Our goal was to finish first but finishing 2nd in this difficult group is a success. This group stage will make us grow”, admitted the Parisian technician in this regard at a press conference. An observation close to that drawn up by WZE, one of the saviors of the evening. “We are both happy but we know that we could have done better and finished in first place, that was the objective. But we are happy to finish in second place and to be qualified, we had a good match”.

“Qualifying was the second objective we had, the first was to get first place. There were opportunities, we had the feeling that we could go and get them. But still, we have to stay clear-headed, it’s important to qualify and keep this goal of the Champions League. Between now and the next stage we have to prepare, be even better because they are going to become big opponents.”, assured Marquinhos for his part. PSG did not convince. PSG suffered. PSG was scared but at the end of a suffocating scenario and numerous twists and turns, PSG secured the essential: its place for the round of 16 of the Champions League. Now for the rest of the events…