Bayern Munich smother Leo Messi and Paris Saint-Germain at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to send them out of the Champions League in the round of 16.
Second-half goals from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry secured a 2-0 second-leg win for Julian Naglesman’s side to put Bayern into the quarterfinals off the back of a 3-0 aggregate victory over the Ligue 1 leaders.
PSG came into the match trailing 1-0 on aggregate from the first leg and without the services of Neymar, who was ruled out for the remainder of the season after it was revealed he needed surgery for an ankle injury sustained against Lille on Feb. 19.
Both sides had chances in the opening 45 minutes, with Lionel Messi having two shots blocked from close range before the half-hour and Gianluigi Donnarumma doing well to go low and to his right to save Jamal Musiala’s well-hit shot shortly after.
Matthijs de Ligt made the save of the first half for the hosts shortly before the break, though, sliding across the goal line to clear away Vitinha’s feint shot into an open net after Yann Sommer’s pocket was picked playing out from the back by Archaf Hakimi which made the score even going into half time.
Choupo-Moting had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half, but there was no doubt about his second attempt just past the hour mark as Marco Verratti was dispossessed at the edge of his area and Leon Goretzka squared to his Bayern teammate to tap it past Donnarumma.
Sommer preserved his clean sheet with a pair of good saves late in the second half, one from a Sergio Ramos header and another from a close-range shot by Mbappe, who was kept relatively quiet by a well-organized Bayern defence.
Second-half substitute Serge Gnabry added the second of the night for Bayern on a ruthless counter-attack, picking up a through ball from Joao Cancelo and smashing his effort past Donnarumma to reach the final scoreline.
Bayern will now await the results of the Champions League draw on March 17 to see who they will face in the quarterfinals.
Discussion about this post