Superstar Neymar had some good chances for his team, he didn't want to score
Photo: Michael Regan - UEFA / imago images / PanoramiCParis Saint-Germain are in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 25 years. In Lisbon, where all the games in the final tournament take place, PSG won 2-1 (0-1) against Atalanta. The lead for the Italians was achieved by Mario Pasalić in the 26th minute of the game. For Paris, Marquinhos (90th) and Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting (90th + 3) met. Since there is no return game in the final tournament, the French are among the last four in the premier class.
Next Tuesday, Thomas Tuchel's team will meet the winner of the match between RB Leipzig and Atlético Madrid in the semi-finals, which will take place on Thursday (9 p.m., TV: Sky, live ticker: SPIEGEL.de).
In addition to the injured regular goalkeeper Pierluigi Collini, Bergamo also had to do without top scorer Josip Ilicic, who is taking a break from professional football after the experiences in Bergamo during the corona pandemic. Paris had to do without the injured Marco Verratti and the suspended Angel di Maria. Kylian Mbappé initially sat on the bench.
As usual, Atalanta pressed early, sometimes putting the opponents under pressure while accepting the ball. PSG had problems with that at first. Captain Alejandro "Papu" Gómez fired a first warning shot for the Italians from twelve meters (3rd). In return, the first PSG chance - it was a good one. After a one-two with Mauro Icardi, Neymar ran free to goalkeeper Marco Sportiello, but also pushed the ball, which had not been hit properly, past the goal.
Paris takes control, Atalanta scores
Apart from that, the initial phase belonged to the Italian club. After almost 20 minutes, the French champions actually had more security in the game - but fell behind. By chance, the Mainz-born Pasalić got the ball 14 meters in front of the goal and slid it into the far corner. Another minute later, PSG had a good second chance, again from Neymar. The Brazilian pulled just under from 20 meters.
As a result, Paris had a lot of possession, but little to offer. A far too short back pass from Hans Hateboer into Neymar's run gave the Brazilian and PSG the third good opportunity to score. However, the 28-year-old warped significantly (42nd).
Even after the break, both teams continued to play forwards. And it got rougher. There were four yellow cards in the first twelve minutes after the restart. While almost every attack at Paris continued via Neymar, the offensive at Bergamo was spread over several shoulders. The Italians had their first good chance again, Berat Djimsiti awarded a direct decrease on the short post (58th). Shortly afterwards, Mbappé came to Paris. In the 74th minute he was able to bring in his speed once, but failed from an acute angle.
Bergamo dropped very low in the final quarter of an hour, leaving PSG too much room. That should take revenge. First Marquinhos met after preliminary work by Choupo-Moting and Neymar to equalize late, then Choupo-Moting scored the winning goal in the third minute of stoppage time.
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