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Paris Saint-Germain have won their first “final” in Group H and can continue to hope to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. PSG beat RB Leipzig 1-0 (1-0), Neymar scored from a penalty (11th minute). With a win, Leipzig would have been about to enter the last 16 team round, but RB gave up the chance.
Manchester United lead the group with nine points after a 4-1 (3-0) win in the side game against Istanbul Basaksehir. They are followed by Paris and Leipzig with six points each and Istanbul with three points. Paris won the direct comparison against Leipzig, in the 1: 2 defeat in the first leg, Paris had scored an away goal. All teams still have a chance to advance.
The match hadn’t had a great chance when referee Danny Makkelie gave Paris a penalty. Ángel Di María fell into the penalty area, but his rival Marcel Sabitzer barely touched the attacker. The controversial decision was apparently not verified by the video assistant. Neymar converted the penalty to 1-0 (11th), goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi suspected the corner, but could not recover the ball.
Tuchel already spoke of the “final”
PSG coach Thomas Tuchel had announced after just three points from three games that he wanted to take on the game against Leipzig as “a final”. The knockout stages were already in grave danger. Paris started accordingly with high attacking line pressure from Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Di María, but while in the lead, PSG withdrew more often. For a short time, the eleven PSG players were in their own third, including Neymar. Leipzig had more possession of the ball, but hardly played chances. Only Emil Forsberg found a hole in the Parisian defense shortly before the break, but he put his volley over the goal (45º + 1).
Paris also took the lead at the start of the 2-1 defeat in the first leg, but Leipzig tied before the break. This time Paris defended more focused and did everything in the second half to defend the lead. The supposed group final should definitely not be missed.
Leipzig, however, stuck to the Paris penalty area and often reached dangerous levels. Forsberg from close range (50th) and Poulsen from a header (79th) missed the goal. In the final stages, the game was tougher, in seven minutes Rafinha (77th), Ander Herrera (82nd) and Marco Verratti (84th) each saw a yellow card from the Parisians. Leipzig did not have great chances in the last minutes.
