For the second time in three weeks, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Chelsea 2-1. It was a fitting result on the night, given that the Parisian club have ended this trilogy of Champions League clashes against the English champions with that series, too, tilted narrowly in their favour by the same margin thanks to this 4-2 aggregate success.
Laurent Blanc’s men can now look forward to a fourth successive quarter-final among Europe’s elite, with their target set at finally overcoming what has previously been an insurmountable hurdle to them.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, too, remains in the running for his first European Cup – the one great team trophy to have eluded him over the course of what has been a glorious career. And the Swede spearheaded their charge in London, setting up Adrien Rabiot’s opener before extinguishing the English side’s hopes of progression with a close finish after being teed up by Angel Di Maria.
It was a goal that allowed Blanc’s side the luxury of a relatively comfortable 20 minutes at the end of this tie – even if much of what had preceded it had been thoroughly competitive.
Just as they had done in the first leg, the English side’s pressing game was intelligent and succeeded in causing the PSG midfield some anxiety. Lacking the injured Marco Verratti, Blanc’s men could not find their usual rhythm in the centre of the park, and the smart defensive work by the home midfielders provoked several errors from Rabiot and Thiago Motta, which left the back four exposed.
This tactic was the same one that Lyon recently used to break PSG’s long unbeaten domestic run, and the insistence on playing a brand of football that was often over-intricate might have cost them more dearly on another night.
Certainly, Chelsea showed their ability to exploit such situations in their favour when Thiago Motta was robbed in a dangerous area before Diego Costa, a player linked with a move to the Parc des Princes in the summer, expertly equalised. The Brazil-born Spain international was at his belligerent best throughout this encounter, and when he finally went off injured, the visiting side – the defence in particular – received a huge lift.
But the hosts never had PSG truly on the ropes. While they landed the occasional blow, it was the French champions who were primarily found on the front foot. Once again they showed fine mental resilience to overcome the conceding of an equalising goal at a time when they looked in control of tie, defendeding manfully when required.
Kevin Trapp produced a couple of smart second-half blocks, and when there was danger otherwise, Thiago Silva and David Luiz were on hand to throw themselves in the line of fire.
PSG were able to move the ball more crisply and effectively than their opponents in the final third of the pitch and in the combination of Di Maria and Ibrahimovic had the cutting edge that their opponents failed to display.
Over two legs, Blanc’s men were rightful winners, but against an average Chelsea side 10 points off the Champions League berths in the Premier League, they were unable to dispatch their opponents with the ease that one might expect of potential winners.
But that in itself is a mark of how far Blanc’s men have progressed in recent years; not so long ago they would have been content with a quarter-final place – achieved with ease or not.
While Barcelona and Bayern Munich remain, for now, a level above PSG, they are still in the running, and that is the crucial thing.
- Goal