Match Report: 10-Man PSG Battle to Unlikely Champions League Progress

 

It was clear from the demeanours of the two managers on this Champions League night at Stamford Bridge what the tasks were that lay ahead of their respective teams. Laurent Blanc of Paris Saint German was poised from the very start on the touchline, his adversary Jose Mourinho took 20 minutes to even stand up once. PSG needed a goal; Chelsea were happy to sit back and wait their turn for the spotlight. Attempting to do the bare minimum in the big games has been a feature of the Blues since Mourinho returned to London, and attempting to the same here, where a goalless draw would have been enough, eventually proved to be their downfall.

Les Parisiens were made to play a full 90 minutes with only 10 men, after star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off after only half an hour - given a straight red for a tackle on Oscar - but they outplayed and outfought the home side, who failed to control the game as they should have done, and were ultimately made to pay. Twice they took the lead and twice they were pegged back, with Thiago Silva's wonderfully looped 114th minute header winning the tie on away goals, and deservedly so.

Chelsea were the only remaining English team thought to have a genuine chance of making the quarter finals of this season's Champions League, and it seemed inevitable from an early stage that they would grind out the result they need once again, with plenty of free-kicks frustrating the visitors in the early stages and breaking up play effectively. It took 20 minutes for Mourinho to spring into action and it wasn't until after that point that the game truly caught alight, despite decent enough starts from both teams. The first half only saw 5 shots; it wasn't chances that dominated proceedings.

Diego Costa and David Luiz renewed acquaintances after a feisty first leg, Luiz showing his nasty side with an elbow on the Chelsea striker after he felt he had been unfairly impeded by his opponent earlier on. The Brazilian then stopped a mazy Eden Hazard run in its tracks, leaving his leg in after the ball had gone to cynically fell the Belgian. On all 3 occasions the referee waved play on, much to the bemusement of the players and an increasingly aggravated crowd.

 

Match Report: 10-Man PSG Battle to Unlikely Champions League Progress

 

Tensions boiled over when in the 30th minute Ibrahimovic, relatively absent until that point, contested a 50-50 with Oscar. It originally appeared the latter had come off worst and the reaction of the home crowd and players quickly escalated the situation. Ibrahimovic's game was brought to an early end when he was given a harsh straight red and he later bemoaned the 'babies' that he had surrounding him after the coming together. It was his eighth appearance against a Jose Mourinho side and for the eighth game he failed to find the net. He has only managed a meagre 4 shots on target in those matches.

The dismissal sparked a petty period in which three more yellows were dished out. PSG had picked up more cards (3) by half time than they had had shots (2). The referee did, however, miss what was surely a certain penalty when Diego Costa went over under the challenge of Edinson Cavani. The first half came to a goalless close and it looked like Mourinho's machine would march on against the 10 men of Paris.

PSG started the second half brightly, though, continuing to defy their numerical disadvantage, and on 57 minutes the oft wasteful yet brilliant Javier Pastore released Cavani with a through ball, only for the Uruguayan to round Thibaut Courtois but strike the post with his effort on goal. It was so nearly costly.

With the game entering its last 20 minutes, Costa flew in on Thiago Silva completely unnecessarily with the defender in his own corner of the pitch. He only received a yellow but one can't help think a similar reaction from the PSG contingent to that of the Chelsea players earlier in the game could have earned the striker a more serious caution.

Then all the goals started flowing. Gary Cahill hit the first from a corner, making it 7 of the last 13 Chelsea goals that have been scored by defenders. Shortly after, David Luiz came back to haunt Mourinho with a priceless header from Ezequiel Lavezzi's corner. There was no muted celebration here.

The clash was taken to extra time, and Chelsea were back in front shortly after, when Thiago Silva inexplicably jumped with his arm raised and gave away a penalty, duly dispatched by the unerring Eden Hazard. And yet there was more drama to come, when the PSG captain and eventual man of the match turned hero with a fantastic header that flew over a helpless Courtois and into the net. A Chelsea side who lacked conviction in attack all night had no reply.

It had seemed inevitable that Mourinho's tactics would once again pay dividends in a narrow yet convincing two-legged victory. He has often been criticised for playing a breed of football that kills games too readily, and it was a victory for his critics here that 10-man PSG came away with a win. The Portuguese was remarkably candid in his post-match talk. "Our performance was no good enough. The opponent was stronger, coped better with the pressure. PSG deserved it. When a team can't defend two corners and concedes two goals to corners they don't deserve to win." He was right in his analysis, but what he can take from this match is the inadequacies that still exist in his team. He will ensure they come back even stronger.


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