Paris Saint-Germain’s post-World Cup slide has continued with fellow European heavyweights Bayern Munich claiming a crucial 1-0 away win in the first leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie.
Unmarked Kingsley Coman swept in an Alphonso Davies cross eight minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes, just as Kylian Mbappe was preparing to enter the fray on his return from injury after PSG had appeared devoid of ideas without their top scorer.
After losing to Monaco and Marseille in the league and French Cup respectively, PSG has now lost three matches in a row, and four of their past eight competitive fixtures.
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It is the first time in the Messi-Neymar-Mbappe era that PSG has sustained such a winless run.
Mbappe provided a bright spark for PSG when he was substituted on in the second-half.
Mbappe, and the entire stadium, thought he had equalised with eight minutes remaining when he turned in a Nuno Mendes cutback, but the goal was ruled out because the Portuguese full-back was just ahead of the last defender at the start of the move.
Mbappe had been out of action with a thigh injury, which was meant to keep him on the sidelines for three weeks but he featured strongly against Bayern after only two.
Meanwhile, Messi was frustrated on the night, while Neymar was also kept quiet in front of goals.
Neymar did still grab attention, however, after a theatrical dive on the edge of the penalty area during the first half when Benjamin Pavard’s elbow made minor contact with his chin.
The Brazilian went down and clutched his face, forcing play to be stopped due to a potential head injury.
When it was clear that he was exaggerating, the commentator said: “On occasion he lets himself down with his behaviou.
“It’s difficult to sympathise with him.”
Offside denies Mbappe as PSG stumble | 01:14
Neymar entered the match having confirmed reports that he had a dressing room bust-up with club chief Luis Campos and teammate Marquinhos after the 3-1 loss to Monaco.
Bayern finished the game with 10 men after Benjamin Pavard was sent off, but it was a frustrating ending for PSG.
The French giants looked much better in the latter stages with Mbappe on the field but also needed a couple of fine saves by Gianluigi Donnarumma to prevent a bigger deficit.
PSG must now hope they can turn the tie around in the second leg in Munich on March 8.
“We are at a disadvantage but we saw that we were capable of causing them problems and now we just need to make sure all our players are in good health and we will go there to try to qualify,” Mbappe, who also had another goal ruled out for a clear offside, said.
Commentators ROAST Neymar for flopping | 00:44
DIAZ FIRES AC MILAN TO WIN OVER TOTTENHAM
Brahim Diaz shot AC Milan to a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur which gave the seven-time European kings control of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Diaz bundled in the only goal of the game in the seventh minute at a packed San Siro to give Milan the advantage before next month’s second leg in London.
The Spaniard’s strike was the first and one of very few real chances of a scrappy game which highlighted the far from sparkling form of both teams heading into match.
“I’s really happy for the team, because we did great work all week,” Diaz told Mediaset.
“We’ve been through some difficult situations but now we need to look forward… now we need to think about Serie A and then we can think about the game in London.”
Milan came into their first knockout in the competition since 2014 with their season in the balance after a horrible run of results in the past month which left their Serie A title defence in tatters.
But the Italians have a decent chance of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2012 after restricting injury-hit Spurs to very little on Antonio Conte’s return to Milan.
Conte, in the Spurs dugout two weeks after undergoing gallbladder surgery, handed the midfield reins to youngsters Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr after losing Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma to injury last week.
And his team failed to supply their record scorer Harry Kane with any service, Milan having great chances in quick succession late in the second half to extend their aggregate lead which were fluffed by Charles De Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw.
Spurs falter in first leg to Milan | 00:39
– Milan triumph –
“We could have scored two more goals, but the game was hard-fought, they caused us problems,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli said to Mediaset.
“It’s only the first leg, the second will be even harder.”
Pioli said on Monday that Italian teams can’t compete with the financial might of the Premier League clubs.
But Diaz had an already loud San Siro roaring with joy when he pounced on Theo Hernandez’s saved shot, first forcing a superb stop from Fraser Forster before bundling home the opener.
The closest Spurs came in a stodgy first half was when Kane clipped the bar on the rebound from Son Heung-min’s saved shot, but it was futile as the Korean was offside in the build-up.
There was very little goalmouth action from that point on until De Ketelaere came on in the 77th minute, the Belgian attacker nearly doubling the hosts’ lead almost straight after coming on.
De Ketelaere met Oliver Giroud’s perfect knockdown with a header which he couldn’t direct on target from close range.
And seconds later Thiaw had his head in his hands after missing an even better chance to secure the win, somehow heading Rafael Leao’s inch-perfect cross wide with the goal at his mercy.
However Spurs couldn’t break through a backline well marshalled by Simon Kjaer which helped inflict a second career defeat to Milan for coach Conte.