Paris St. Germain has not been going well in the past few weeks. The shape is not right and stars keep getting injured. But the closer the second leg in the Champions League against FC Bayern gets, the better the star ensemble will be. But there are also new concerns.
Bayern opponents Paris St. Germain, thanks to their superstars Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi, have taken the next step out of the sporting crisis with fluctuations in shape and numerous injuries, as well as defending their title. The French soccer champion prevailed in the top game of Ligue 1 3-0 (2-0) at Olympique Marseille and extended the lead over the closest pursuer to eight points. The Parisians had lost 2-1 in the cup competition on February 8 against the Ligue 1 runners-up.
Messi and Mbappé scored each other’s goals and presented themselves in top form a week and a half before the round of 16 second leg at Bayern and released the pent-up frustration of the past few weeks: First Mbappé (25th) scored after Messi’s preliminary work, then Messi (29th) after a pass from Mbappé and after the break Mbappé again (55th) after a chip ball from the world champion. It was the Frenchman’s 199 and 200 in the PSG shirt, the superstar equaling club icon Edinson Cavani’s record. When the goal was celebrated, the guest players had to be protected by security forces with Plexiglas shields from objects thrown from the stands.
It seems questionable whether top performer Presnel Kimpembe will be able to attend the Champions League showdown in Munich on March 8 (first leg 0-1). Incidentally, the same applies to Neymar, who is still suffering from an ankle injury. Kimpembe, the French defender who had been out for weeks with an Achilles tendon problem, went down unchallenged during a sprint in the early stages. The 27-year-old had to be carried off the field on a stretcher.
