One To Watch
UCL: Donnarumma's Heroics Allow PSG to Advance Past Liverpool
After withstanding early pressure from Liverpool, PSG took the lead in the 12th minute of the second leg, leveling the aggregate score at one-all.
Nuno Mendes played a pass to Ousmane Dembélé, who quickly shifted the ball to Bradley Barcola on the right. Barcola attempted to return the ball to Dembélé, but Ibrahima Konaté's sliding challenge inside the box inadvertently set Dembélé up for an easy finish.
Liverpool would record 10 total shots while PSG countered with seven, but the contest remained 1-0 for the Parisians heading into halftime. In the final 45 minutes, the Reds outshot the Ligue 1 McDonald's eight to three, but again, neither side could break the one-all aggregate score.
With no goal scored after Dembélé's, the tie went into extra time. PSG recorded three total shots while Liverpool countered with one in the first half of extra time, but in the final 15 minutes, it was all Luis Enrique and his team.
The Parisians recorded eight total shots while the English side registered zero, but the contest remained deadlocked at one-all, so the tie required a penalty kick shootout.
In the shootout, Gianluigi Donnarumma played the hero for the away side, saving two penalties—one from Darwin Núñez and another from Curtis Jones.
Two saves were all the away side needed in the shootout as PSG converted all four shots needed with Désiré Doué scoring the clinching shot to advance to the quarterfinals.
After the match, PSG captain Marquinhos spoke to Canal+ to share his thoughts on winning the tie and advancing to the next round.
"We played a great match, we really deserved this qualification over the two legs, there's no question about it. Football doesn't care about merit. Today, I am happy that we passed because we truly deserved it."
"On March 11 [2015], it was [the comeback against] Chelsea here in England, and on March 11 [2020], it was [the comeback against] Dortmund. To come here and win with such a young team, one of the youngest in the Champions League is impressive. The coach, the staff, everyone is doing an incredible job, and I’m really happy today."
"We have no limits, but we always need to improve. We can’t stop here—this match could have been a final, but it’s just the Round of 16. There’s still work to do. We’ll keep pushing, and with Marseille at home on Sunday, we don’t have time to waste. We need to recover quickly to win the next match."
The Stat: 2
A French club has qualified for the next round after losing their home first-leg match in the Champions League knockout stage for the second time in history, following PSG's loss to Barcelona on April 16, 2024, with Luis Enrique already in charge.
Photo credit: @PSG_English
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