Tag: Gianluigi Donnarumma

Slumping PSG on the verge of another Champions League disappointment

PSG is looking at yet another early Champions League exit

What if Paris Saint-Germain added a fourth player who at some point was in the argument for the world’s best player? Would that work?

Something has to give for PSG, whose Champions League disappointments may well continue after they fell to a 1-0 home loss to Bayern Munich in their round of 16 first leg match on Tuesday.

Despite their many superstars, PSG have suddenly lost more games in the last six days than they had all season.

The latest defeat almost felt expected. With Kylian Mbappé only able to play 33 minutes off the bench, PSG looked flat from kickoff and seemed to be hoping to simply get through this first leg with a chance to take the tie with a second-leg win. They may have been lucky that Bayern decided to approach the match with patience rather than firing on all cylinders.

In the end, Kingsley Coman’s 53rd minute goal sneaked past Gianluigi Donnarumma, leaving PSG — even with Mbappé, Leo Messi, and Neymar all in the fold — staring at the massive disappointment of an early Champions League exit.

PSG has now lost three straight matches, falling 2-1 at Marseille in the Coupe de France on February 8, and then being beaten at Monaco 3-1 in Ligue 1 three days later. That hasn’t happened since 2020, when they fell in the final game of the 2019-2020 season and then lost their first two matches after the abbreviated break between seasons.

If they can’t figure out how to win at the Allianz Arena on March 8, it’ll be the latest European disappointment for a team built to, you know, win the Champions League.

Round of 16 exit not acceptable

Mbappé, Messi, and Neymar are joined by Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, Fabián, Marco Verratti, and one of Europe’s great young prospects in Warren Zaïre-Emery in the kind of squad assembled when you expect to win everything. Another failure may result in Christophe Galtier becoming the latest high-profile manager to fall short at PSG, where winning Ligue 1 is considered a matter of course at this point.

The fact is, though, that PSG has a long history of not making it happen on the European stage. Their only trophy in UEFA competition remains the 1995-1996 Cup Winners’ Cup, a competition so old that it is literally defunct. The only other European adventure that went well for them was the 2001 Intertoto Cup, a competition that was really little more than an expanded qualification process for the old UEFA Cup.

Last year, PSG saw a 2-0 aggregate lead disappear at this same stage, with Karim Benzema scoring a hat trick in the final 30 minutes to send Real Madrid through instead. In 2020-21, PSG got as far as the semifinals, but were brushed aside by Manchester City. A year earlier, this same result — 1-0 against Bayern, with Coman scoring in the final of the pandemic-shortened version of that year’s Champions League (which was the first game in the aforementioned previous three-game losing streak for the club).

Mbappé’s second-half return from injury will probably mean a quick reversal in their overall form. Without the France star, they scraped out a 2-1 win over Toulouse before beginning this three-game losing streak. And sure enough, even looking less than 100%, the PSG attack suddenly found more space due to the threat of Mbappé’s runs in behind.

Still, while Mbappé’s return will most likely change PSG’s poor form in French play, it seems like it’ll take more than that to end whatever the hex is that hangs over them once the opening chords of the Champions League theme starts to ring out on matchday.

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Karim Benzema hat trick, Real Madrid comeback spurred by epic PSG keeper gaffe

Real Madrid capped an epic comeback, thanks to Karim Benzema and a brain fart from Donnarumma

The lead-up to Real Madrid and PSG’s (-106 favorites) second Champions League matchup likely could not have been more agonizing for Karim Benzema and company. A 1-0 defeat in the first leg put one of the world’s soccer titans on the brink. Another outright defeat–or even loss on aggregate–would have given Real its third Round of 16 ousters in the last five seasons. Not exactly a mark you’d expect from a team accustomed to playing in the big games every year when flowers start to bloom.

Wednesday evening’s matchup at the hands of Kylian Mbappe and friends could not have started worse. A late first-half tally from the French superstar left Real Madrid reeling. They were roughly one-half of soccer away from another disappointing UCL showing.

That is until PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma had a late second-half goalie gaffe he won’t soon forget. His benefactor? Mbappe’s French teammate on the international stage: Benzema.

You watched the clip correctly. Your eyes do not deceive you. The bright Donnarumma–who was named Euro 2020 Player of the Tournament for his stellar goalkeeping this past summer–tried to clear the ball across his goalmouth when five different Real Madrid players were in the goal box. Did someone unplug his controller? Was he getting bored and wanted to play something else? Who knows!

Unfortunately for Donnarumma and the favored PSG, the brain fart ended up spelling out the beginning of the end. And Benzema had the pen to write it all out in a 3-1 stunner.

A hat trick. For a 34-year-old elder statesman (whoa, not prepared to read that sentence). The oldest player to ever score three goals in one Champions League match.

Outside of his usual prowess, Benzema’s late flurry was actually enough to push Real Madrid forward to the Champions League quarterfinals. And while it hasn’t been the best season in central Spain, you’d be foolish to overlook a squad that’s already come back from the dead.

Benzema’s brilliance gave them such a chance. Here’s a hunch that it won’t be the last time.

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