The two stars of PSG, Ousmane Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé, tried in vain to cross the “Yellow Wall” of Dortmund on Wednesday evening in the semi-final first leg of the Champions League (1-0).
Before his departure at the end of the season, PSG’s No.7 will have to work hard to take his teammates to the final at Wembley, and end his adventure in the capital in the best possible way.
Without this and with this rather lackluster performance, he will be left with regrets, as he is expected during this type of meeting.
PSG’s two offensive threats were in fact perfectly controlled by the BVB defense, which annihilated the speed and dribbling of the two Frenchmen.
And unlike the Parisian rearguard, the Germans were not caught in depth like on Niclas Füllkrug’s goal (36th).
The future will tell if the double post in quick succession from PSG, first on a shot from Kylian Mbappé (right post) followed by an attempt from Achraf Hakimi (left post), will haunt the minds of the Parisians (52nd).
In all, PSG is the team that has found the most posts (posts and crossbars) this season in C1, ten times.
“We had clear chances,” commented Parisian captain Marquinhos. “At home we really need to take advantage of these kinds of opportunities,” he added before the return match in Paris next Tuesday.
Dembélé whistled
After being too discreet in the first half despite two shots from former Dortmund player Dembélé, the French attackers showed themselves more in the second half. In vain, because they were too imprecise.
Led by the scores and pushed by the Parisian parking lot and the 4,000 supporters who traveled, they insisted on the left side of Achraf Hakimi and the N.10.
For his return to Signal Iduna Park, Dembélé was whistled for every ball, which had transcended him in Barcelona – another former club – in the quarter-final second leg (4-1).
This time in Dortmund, the ex-Rennais failed to be decisive and make the difference: he struck twice (11th, 18th) without hitting the target, before coming very close to equalizing (72nd) but clashed again with the BVB goalkeeper.
Five minutes later, he returned to his mistakes in the finish, missing the inevitable: alone in the area, he propelled his shot too far above the goal.
The third threat in attack was just as erased.
On his left side, Bradley Barcola was very discreet apart from a strike returning from the locker room, well captured by goalkeeper Gregor Kobel (48th).
Whoever is expected to join the Blues will have to make more differences to hope to play in the Euro. He was replaced at the hour mark by another French international, Randal Kolo Muani, who did not achieve much.
