Champions League: Shootout hero Donnarumma helps PSG knock Liverpool out
Paris St Germain beat Liverpool 4-1 in a penalty shootout to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals after winning a rip-roaring last-16 second-leg match at Anfield 1-0 on Tuesday thanks to a goal from livewire Ousmane Dembele.
After the tie had finished 1-1 on aggregate, PSG goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, saved spot kicks from Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones, while the visitors, who have never won the Champions League, converted all of their efforts.
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Ligue 1 leaders, PSG, will meet either Aston Villa or Club Brugge in the quarters, with Villa taking a 3-1 lead into Wednesday’s second leg.
Dembele stunned the Anfield crowd with his 12th-minute goal against the run of play. Ibrahima Konate slid in to block Bradley Barcola’s effort but pushed the ball away from goalkeeper Alisson in the process, and Dembele needed only to knock it into an empty net.
The goal was the earliest Premier League-leading Liverpool had conceded at Anfield in the Champions League since September 2017 against Sevilla.
Arne Slot’s team played considerably better than a week earlier when they needed a last-gasp goal from substitute Harvey Elliott after the Parisians had dominated and Reds talisman Mohamed Salah had a shot blocked on the goal line by Nuno Mendes in the game’s first few minutes.
Donnarumma was forced into making an early diving save to keep out a shot from Konate, but both sides spurned chances in a nervy game that had fans on the edge of their seats.
Six-times European champions
Liverpool parked themselves in PSG’s territory for much of the second half of normal time and had a goal from Dominik Szoboszlai chalked off for offside in the build-up early in the second period.
They kept Donnarumma busy in the dying minutes, with the keeper parrying away ball after ball fired into the box, but it was Dembele who unleashed what looked like the winner in extra time before Alisson made a dramatic diving save to push the ball wide with his fingertips.
PSG were rock solid under pressure in the shootout, with Vitinha, Goncalo Ramos, Dembele and Desire Doue all finding the net. Liverpool got off to a good start with Salah slamming his effort home, but Nunez and Jones both had tame efforts comfortably stopped by Donnarumma, with Slot wrapping a disconsolate Nunez in a hug afterwards.
The Liverpool boss was magnanimous in defeat and even had words of praise for his beaten side.
History was not on the Parisians’ side on Tuesday, as they became just the fourth of 28 teams to progress after losing the first leg at home in a Champions League knockout tie.
“Both of the teams deserve to go to the next phase,” said PSG boss, Luis Enrique.
The thousands of travelling fans, many of them shirtless despite the chilly temperature, were not daunted by their team’s odds, as they danced and sang until the final whistle.
Liverpool have little time to rest ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final against Newcastle United
.–Reuters
