Paris Saint-Germain are looking to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg and beat Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday, aiming to end the Kylian Mbappe era at the club in the end at Wembley. The only time PSG participated in club football’s biggest game turned out to be a depressing occasion, with the French team losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich behind closed doors in Lisbon in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.
Reaching the June 1 final in London and playing again in front of a crowd of 90,000 against Real Madrid or Bayern would be an entirely different occasion.
Getting there would give Mbappé the chance to end his seven-year spell with the Qatari team in the best possible way, as they seek to win the Champions League for the first time in history, and only the second time for a Frenchman. club after Marseille in 1993.
Mbappe informed PSG in February of his intention to leave the Parc des Princes when his contract expires at the end of the season, ending a prolific association with his hometown team that began when he signed from Monaco in 2017.
Now 25 and France captain, Mbappe has become the Parisians’ all-time top scorer with 255 goals in 305 games to date, including 43 this season alone.
He has 48 in the Champions League – a total that includes six with Monaco in his debut campaign in 2016/17 – and Tuesday’s second leg against Dortmund would be an ideal moment for him to look back on his half-century.
Luis Enrique’s side did not perform at their best when they lost 1-0 in Germany last week and the pressure is on them as favorites to turn the tie around at home.
However, it will be enough to repeat what happened when they hosted Dortmund in the group stage last September – on that occasion they won 2-0, with Mbappe scoring the first goal from a penalty.
“We are sure that we will turn things around and qualify for the final,” Mbappe told several media outlets, including AFP, on Sunday, on the sidelines of an event on the French capital’s famous Champs-Elysees.
“There is a lot of pressure on us, which is normal because a place in the Champions League final is at stake.
“Even more so when you know this club’s past in the competition.”
Defensive dilemma
PSG were not necessarily expected to reach the semi-finals this season, with the squad undergoing a major overhaul following the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar at the end of last season.
They have been knocked out in the last 16 in five of the last seven seasons, often failing spectacularly in that period.
Before this season, and since Qatar’s takeover of the club in 2011, PSG had won nine Champions League ties in total.
Five of them have taken place behind closed doors in the Covid era, including two draws played as one-offs at neutral grounds in Lisbon in 2020.
This season’s draw was as amiable as could be, with Real Sociedad the ideal opponents in the round of 16 and Dortmund the best they could have asked for in the semi-finals.
However, their performance in overcoming a first-leg deficit to defeat Barcelona in the quarter-finals should not be ignored.
While all eyes are, as always, on Mbappe, the key to PSG’s chances of recovering from another first-leg defeat when they face Dortmund may lie in their defense.
They suffered a blow when Lucas Hernandez tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while trying to stop Niclas Fuellkrug’s goal at Dortmund. He must be gone for many months.
Furthermore, left-back Nuno Mendes, who recently returned from a long spell, had a difficult time against Jadon Sancho at Signal Iduna Park.
Mendes is almost certain to start at the Parc des Princes, while Danilo Pereira looks the most likely option to partner captain Marquinhos at centre-back.
“We know how strong we are at Parc. Nothing is finished, everything is open”, said Marquinhos after the first game.
Another factor in favor of PSG, who have already won the French title, could be their freshness: their weekend league game in Nice was postponed to help them prepare.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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