03-12-2020, 09:47 AM
Neymar set PSG on their way to Champions League quarters
Paris Saint-Germain players celebrated with supporters gathered outside the ground after Neymar set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors, taking them through to the Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate.
PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie with Germain side, Neymar’s 28th-minute header put them ahead on the night in the second leg amid a surreal atmosphere.
Juan Bernat then deflected after Pablo Sarabia assist to make it 2-0 for whom Kylian Mbappe was only fit enough to appear as a substitute, go through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016. Dortmund finished the night with 10 men after Emre Can was sent off.
“We played like a team. It was a pleasure to be their coach tonight,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told broadcaster RMC Sport.
He added: “The atmosphere was great coming here in the bus, with all the ultras singing. We were all singing together and it was a special atmosphere. Its needed a huge effort from us, playing without spectators made it all the more difficult“.
Neymar was captured on camera in tears after the match, having shaken off desperate disappointment in the competition in the last two years, with injury preventing him from playing in the second leg against Real Madrid at this stage in 2018 and in both legs against Manchester United last season.
Kylian Mbappe was only shortlisted among the substitutes after struggling with illness and currently undergoing a test for coronavirus in the build-up to the game. His absence from the starting line-up was just the latest blow for coach Thomas Tuchel, who was also without the suspended Marco Verratti and injured centre-back Thiago Silva.
Paris Saint-Germain players celebrated with supporters gathered outside the ground after Neymar set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors, taking them through to the Champions League quarterfinals 3-2 on aggregate.
PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie with Germain side, Neymar’s 28th-minute header put them ahead on the night in the second leg amid a surreal atmosphere.
Juan Bernat then deflected after Pablo Sarabia assist to make it 2-0 for whom Kylian Mbappe was only fit enough to appear as a substitute, go through to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2016. Dortmund finished the night with 10 men after Emre Can was sent off.
“We played like a team. It was a pleasure to be their coach tonight,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told broadcaster RMC Sport.
He added: “The atmosphere was great coming here in the bus, with all the ultras singing. We were all singing together and it was a special atmosphere. Its needed a huge effort from us, playing without spectators made it all the more difficult“.
Neymar was captured on camera in tears after the match, having shaken off desperate disappointment in the competition in the last two years, with injury preventing him from playing in the second leg against Real Madrid at this stage in 2018 and in both legs against Manchester United last season.
Kylian Mbappe was only shortlisted among the substitutes after struggling with illness and currently undergoing a test for coronavirus in the build-up to the game. His absence from the starting line-up was just the latest blow for coach Thomas Tuchel, who was also without the suspended Marco Verratti and injured centre-back Thiago Silva.