Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue were on target as Paris Saint Germain thumped Bayern Munich 2-0 to reach the semi-final of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Beyond the goals, the thrilling encounter saw an injury to Bayern’s Jamal Musiala, two second-half red cards for PSG’s Willian Pacho and Lucas Hernandez and a late drama with an overturned penalty decision in the French club’s favour.
Doue, who scored twice in PSG’s Champions League final win over Inter Milan, opened the score sheet driving a 78th-minute low, left-footed shot into the corner.
Four minutes later, PSG defender Pacho was dismissed for a high lunge on Leon Goretzka, while full-back Hernandez was also given his marching orders in added time for catching Raphael Guerreiro with an elbow.
But despite the setback, Luis Enrique’s men made light of their losses by scoring with a stunning counter-attack. This happened after Achraf Hakimi beat three players to set up substitute Ousmane Dembele, who struck the underside of the bar just at six minutes of added time.
Bayern had no answers and even saw a penalty decision overturned when VAR deemed Nuno Mendes’ challenge on Thomas Muller, making what will be his final appearance for the German champions, to be a fair one.
Paris Saint- Germain will now face Real Madrid, who beat Dortmund 3-2 in New Jersey on Saturday.
Here, we analyse the main talking points of a remarkable match.
Jamal Musiala’s horror injury mars Bayern’s quarter final clash
The German forward suffered a horrendous ankle injury which left him lying on the pitch just before halftime.
The 22-year-old lower left leg was clattered under the diving frame of PSG’s goalkeeper Donnarumma, as the duo including PSG’s William Pacho competed for a loose ball just inside the penalty area.
The sight was ugly the UK, television broadcasters DAZN opted not to show replays of the incident at half-time.
The reaction of the players including Donnarumma and Bayern teammates—including that of Alphonso Davies, who was live-streaming the game on social media while recovering from a serious injury of his own—showed it was a serious injury.
There has been no word from Bayern Munich regarding the nature of the injury.
The encounter which ended in a 2-0 loss to Bayern was Musiala’s first competitive game after missing the final weeks of the Bundesliga campaign with a hamstring injury.
Bayern head coach Vincent Kompany confirmed after the game that Musiala had been taken to hospital for treatment.
“It didn’t look good,” he told DAZN. “The overwhelming feeling is that (hopefully) it’s not as bad as it looked and that he gets through this one, because this is the second set-back now in a very short time.
“He’s a player who loves football, that’s his life. For him it will hit hard but he’s going to get through it, he’s going to get stronger and hopefully next season he will lift trophies with Bayern.”
Who was the Man of the match?
Doue is just 20 years old but he plays like a high level footballer.
His opening goal for the European Champions is just a tip of the iceberg in terms of his creativity as a player. And just enough to win him the award for the Man of The Match.
Speaking to DAZN, he said, “It was really important to win this game because we know that in the first part of the season we lost against this team. It was really important to beat Bayern today. We are really happy today.
“It was a fight today. We are really sad that Pacho and Lucas took a red card but it is part of the game. We have to be good in the next game and we are going to win. We are ready for anything.”
Dembele pays tribute to Jota
After the forward struck home to put his side 2-0 up, Dembele mimicked Diogo Jota’s gaming celebration, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
The late Liverpool forward, 28 —along with his brother, Andre Silva, 25—passed away in a traffic accident in the early hours of Thursday, last week.
The crash occurred after the player’s Lamborghini had veered off the road in the municipality of Cernadilla, Zamora.
Jota had celebrated his wedding with his partner, with whom he had three kids, just two weeks before his death.
Donnarumma outclasses Neuer
PSG Vs Bayern Munich was billed as the match of the Club World Cup, and it wasn’t any less.
Not simply due to the intensity throughout the match up, but also because it was a contest between two of the best goalkeepers in the world. The list includes Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois, Donnarumma and Neuer.
Despite being visibly upset from the part he played in Musiala’s injury, Donnarumma was quick to put that behind him as he appeared solid between the stick on an afternoon when PSG are not at their usual best.
It’s hard to decide who is the absolute best of the three, but if one were to judge based on previous achievements, Neuer will be at the top of that list. The 39-year-old, for several years, was the best goalkeeper in the world.
His positioning of his goal area against PSG was excellent. He even pulled off two fine saves, once in the first half from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and again in the second from Bradley Barcola.
But he fell short, slipping he prepared to react to Doue’s 78th-minute shot, leaving him wrong-footed as PSG got the lead. He was left frustrated after Dembele doubled the lead in injury time.
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