Paris St Germain and Roma win Champions League first leg matches
6972 Mins Read
Paris condemned Manchester United to their heaviest ever home defeat in Europe while Nicolò Zaniolo struck twice to give Roma the advantage but Adrián López’s reply leaves the tie delicately poised.
Manchester United 0 – Paris St Germain 2
Paris are in charge of their round of 16 tie against Manchester United after an impressive second-half display at Old Trafford. Kylian Mbappé shot wide with the only notable chance of the opening period, and again went close to breaking the deadlock after the interval when his header was turned behind by David de Gea.
Former United forward Ángel Di María delivered the subsequent corner and Presnel Kimpembe ghosted in at the back post to register his maiden senior goal. Di María also laid on the visitors’ second, Mbappé perfectly positioned to side-foot his cross past De Gea. Mbappé might have iced the cake when clean through, but Paul Pogba’s late red card nevertheless compounded United’s misery.
United – and their interim manager – are no strangers to dramatic comebacks, but the Red Devils have never overturned a first-leg home defeat to win a tie in Europe. Furthermore, Paris have not lost a UEFA Champions League home game since this time last year, when they were already trailing Real Madrid 3-1 from the first leg.
Roma 2 – Porto 1
Opportunities were at a premium in the first hour of the contest, Edin Džeko rifling against the post for Roma in the 37th minute and Danilo heading just wide for Porto after the interval.
The home side finally broke through when Džeko’s cushioned lay-off allowed Zaniolo to drill in his first UEFA Champions League goal, and another swiftly followed when the Bosnian’s drive came back off the post to the youngster.
Porto’s chances of turning the tie around received a huge boost in the 79th minute, though, as Francisco Soares’ sliced effort fell perfectly for López to fire past Antonio Mirante.
Statistics suggest this tie could hardly be more balanced heading to Portugal. In all previous European Cup/UEFA Champions League knockout ties when the home side have won 2-1 in the first leg, 90 have gone through while 89 have been eliminated in the return. Roma contributed to those numbers at this point last season, losing 2-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk before winning the second leg 1-0.
