Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League hopes hang by a thread after a 1-0 loss to Bayern Munich on Tuesday left Luis Enrique’s men locked in an elimination battle with just three games remaining in the league stage. Kim Min-jae’s first-half header was enough to beat the Ligue 1 giants at Allianz Arena despite Ousmane Dembele’s second-half dismissal and it may have been a harsh result on Les Parisiens given their performance.
However, playing well without the goals and thus points to show for it remains the recurring theme with PSG in the UCL these past two seasons and now the situation is probably more critical than it has ever been. Matvey Safonov was preferred to Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal and started with a brilliant save to deny Jamal Musiala as part of a strong total display apart from one brutal error in judgment which cost the visitors dearly as Bayern won from it.
Ousmane Dembele will have many regrets that he was sent off for a rash challenge while it was already booking, but perhaps the error was the first booking for dissent rather than the second, which would normally have been a booking for foul on Alphonso Davies. Warren Zaire-Emery will probably feel the most guilt for wasting a glorious chance to go 1-0 up when he shot wide when well placed, but it also underlined their major problem: they are no longer scoring goals whether it’s home or away games .
“It’s hard to talk,” Vitinha said postgame. “We gave everything. We had the impression that it would have been different without the red card. With the red, it was difficult physically. Bayern had an extra man and it was much more difficult. The first half was tight between the two. They created more chances, but only from an angle I affirm that we can play and beat the best. We can’t deny the situation is difficult. We have three games to finish and we have to win all three.”
Luis Enrique continues to see the same performances where his side create chances, do not take them and then get punished and so far the warnings have not been heeded considering the losses of Arsenal and Atletico Madrid and also the draw of PSV Eindhoven. Goncalo Ramos back on the pitch will be a big boost and getting him up to speed ahead of the trip to face Red Bull Salzburg will be absolutely crucial but it may have gone unnoticed that PSG conceded twice as many goals as they scored.
The absences of Lucas Hernandez and Presnel Kimpembe have probably been as detrimental as that of Ramos and there is no guarantee that either will be fit enough to feature in Austria yet before a final home game against Manchester City. It’s a very real possibility now that PSG could be playing for their Champions League hopes on the final day against VfB Stuttgart and that’s not a scenario many saw coming after last year’s semi-final, but it’s the result of a wayward finish against at least. PSV and Atleti.
Some aspects of the Bayern performance can be seen as positive, but the bottom line is simple and that is that the Germans did what Paris could not do and win – as harsh as that is on Safonov, who was more than solid substitute for the. fallible Donnarumma. Even erasing Kim’s goal would have only been good for a point which they would have admittedly taken while trailing one goal and one man and probably even been greeted positively but that is not the situation now.
Realistically, PSG need to avoid defeat in their final three games and win two of them to even begin to be confident of advancing to the knockout phase and it is not an exact science as it is the first year of this new format. With City one of those three remaining games and two more on the road, which has not been kind to the French capital of late, there is no remaining margin for error and no safety net — failure to finish in the top 24 means that Europe. has been away since late January and it looks increasingly likely after this result.
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