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Tag: PSG

  • PSG reach French Cup final as Verratti nets rare goal

    PSG reach French Cup final as Verratti nets rare goal

    Marco Verratti scored a rare goal for Paris St-Germain (PSG) as they beat Nantes 3-0 at home to reach the French Cup final on Wednesday.

    The win meant they now have a fifth consecutive title in their sights.

    Midfielder Verratti, who also found the net for Italy last week, opened the scoring for the Cup holders in the first half with his first PSG goal of the season.

    Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty kick and Daniel Alves found the net with a delicate lob to wrap up victory in the closing stages.

    Mbappe was denied from the spot by Nantes goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu earlier in the match, before the visitors were reduced to 10 men.

    That was after Kalifa Coulibaly was sent off for a second yellow card in the 71st minute.

    PSG, who lost Marquinhos to a muscle injury, will face Stade Rennais, who beat Olympique Lyonnais 3-2 on Tuesday, in the April 27 showdown at the Stade de France.

    The Ligue 1 leaders have not conceded a single goal on their way to the final match.

    With Neymar watching from the stands, Verratti unleashed a low diagonal shot from outside the box on 29 minutes to put the home side ahead.

    It was his second goal in eight days after he scored in Italy’s 6-0 victory over Liechtenstein in a Euro 2020 qualifier last Tuesday.

    Mbappe beat Tatarusanu from the penalty kick spot after a Nicolas Pallois handball, but referee Francois Letexier had it retaken due to players encroaching into the box.

    Tatarusanu blocked the second attempt, but he was powerless with Mbappe’s penalty kick in the 83rd minute after Alves was brought down by Diego Carlos.

    Alves wrapped up an emphatic win when he lobbed Tatarusanu from the edge of the box two minutes into added time.

    The sides will meet again at the Parc des Princes in Ligue 1 in two weeks.

  • Man Utd’s Herrera agrees £200,000-a-week deal to leave Old Trafford

    Man Utd’s Herrera agrees £200,000-a-week deal to leave Old Trafford

    Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has reportedly agreed to sign for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, after growing frustrated with United’s offer.

    United refused to sanction Herrera’s £200,000-a-week wage demands, despite PSG’s attempts to land the Spanish midfielder on a free transfer.

    The 29-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and was demanding a big increase to his current £130,000-a-week salary, to stay with the Old Trafford giants.

    United were prepared to hand him around £170,000-a-week including bonuses.

    However, Mirror Sport reports that Herrera has reached a pre-contract agreement with the French champions and will join them July 1.

  • La Liga: Real Madrid budgets £240m for PSG younster

    Real Madrid have made Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe their No 1 target this summer and are plotting a staggering £240million for the youngster.

    Zinedine Zidane made Mbappe his main target as he begins his overhaul of the squad after returning to the Bernabeu for a second spell as manager.

    Despite Zidane’s admiration for Mbappe, it had been thought that any deal to get him out of the French capital was impossible but Real are now said to be confident that they can get a deal done.

    France Football, who have both Mbappe and Zidane on their front cover with the headline ‘Operation Mbappe’, are reporting that the manager will have significant funds to strengthen his squad.

    Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has guaranteed Zidane a minimum of €500m (£430m) to splash out on first-team personnel.Of that figure, €400m (£340m) is already available while the remaining €100m (£90m) will come from the sale of Gareth Bale ‘to a Premier League club’.

    Real are desperate to make radical changes to their forward line in the next transfer window. A failure to replace Cristiano Ronaldo sufficiently last summer has cost them in La Liga and the Champions League this campaign.

    PSG will be extremely reluctant to sell their crown jewel though and the scenario in which he tries to force a move because he is impatient to win the Champions League, still seems some way away.

    Mbappe, who won the World Cup with France last summer, has thrived in Paris since arriving from Monaco in the summer of 2017.

    The 20-year-old is PSG’s top scorer this term with 31 goals in 35 appearances across all competitions.

    The Spanish giants have been linked to several players in recent weeks as they look to catch up with Barcelona domestically and the rest of Europe’s elite in the Champions League.

    Liverpool have forcefully declined any approach for their winger Sadio Mane, according to Monday’s edition of Marca.

    The interest in the 26-year-old has grown amid his current run of form and his record of 53 goals and 21 assists in 111 matches for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

     

    Zidane is also said to be keen on Chelsea’s Eden Hazard. The Belgian has been a long-term target for Real and, as he prepares to enter the final year of his contract at Stamford Bridge, this could be the summer he finally leaves.

  • PSG’s Mbappe admits losing sleep after Man Utd defeat

    Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe says that he has had trouble sleeping since the club’s defeat to Manchester United in the Champions League on Wednesday.

    Mbappe, 20, failed to score as United came back from a 2-0 first-leg deficit to win 3-1 in Paris and advance on away goals.

    Marcus Rashford netted a late penalty, awarded after a VAR review for handball by defender Presnel Kimpembe. And Mbappe says it has hit the squad hard.

    “I am stunned – there are no words,” he told TF1’s Telefoot. “I have not been able to sleep and I think it has been the same for everybody else. It is difficult. We worked hard to reach that point and now we are out. We are disappointed. Football goes on. We will try to rally and finish the season.

    “Honestly, it was our goal – we were working towards it each day. The supporters were with us too. The stadium was full, the fans did their job and got behind us – it was a truly magical atmosphere and we spoiled the party. We did not want to ruin it, but we did.

    “It is complicated, particularly after what happened, and there are many people who doubt us. However, I still believe in this project – I am sure we will do something good for the club with the fans’ support. I hope that they continue to get behind us. They have always been in the right. Now, we have to do some things.

    “I think that, together, we can start to move in the right direction again and ask the right questions. I think that we can achieve something good in the future. We will keep working because that it is all that we can do. We will try to improve day after day, as when you get eliminated, you are missing something – you are not up to it. Now, we have to finish the season in the best way and prepare better for next year.”

    Mbappe, who has been linked with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona, insisted that his future had not changed despite PSG’s failure to get to the quarterfinals of the Champions League once again.

    “Yes, I am sure to be here next season,” he added. “With or without what just happened, it was already set. With all of the problems that this elimination will cause, it is pointless adding my personal situation to that. This way, it is clear and accurate.”

    Meanwhile, Kimpembe says complacency was to blame for the French champions’ shock defeat.

    “Compared withe the first leg win at Old Trafford, I would say that there was a lot of complacency – it was not really the same PSG in the second leg and it felt that way,” he said on YouTube channel Bros

    . “We lost our grinta from the first leg that made the difference. It is not past experiences that make us stressed, in truth, it is because we took this game lightly. It will really be something that never happens to me again.”

  • Man Utd penalty award against PSG was correct – UEFA

    Man Utd penalty award against PSG was correct – UEFA

    Uefa has backed the video assistant referee system’s decision to award Manchester United an injury-time penalty that knocked Paris St-Germain out of the Champions League.

    Diogo Dalot’s shot hit Presnel Kimpembe’s arm but was only deemed a spot-kick after the VAR intervention.

    Injured PSG forward Neymar called the decision a “disgrace”.

    But Uefa said the distance the ball covered was “not short” and Kimpembe’s arm was “not close” to his body.

    Based on this, it added that “the impact could therefore not be unexpected” and “the defender’s body [was made] bigger thus resulting in the ball being stopped from travelling in the direction of the goal.

    “The referee, therefore, awarded a penalty kick.

    “Given that the referee did not recognise the incident clearly during live play [referred to as serious missed incident in the VAR protocol] an on-field review was conducted.”

    After a lengthy delay where Slovenian referee Damir Skomina conducted the review on a pitch-side monitor, Marcus Rashford scored the penalty to earn United a 3-1 win on the night and send them through on away goals.

    It was the 21-year-old’s first competitive spot-kick for his club and ensured that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team became the first in Champions League history to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the home leg in a knockout tie.

  • UCL: Man Utd penalty was a disgrace, says Neymar

    The decision to award Manchester United a penalty in the 94th minute of their win over Paris St-Germain in the Champions League was a “disgrace”, says the French club’s forward Neymar.

    The 27-year-old raged about the call, made after using VAR, on social media as United reached the quarter-finals.

    Marcus Rashford’s goal earned a 3-1 win and United went through on away goals after the tie ended 3-3 on aggregate.

    But Brazilian striker Neymar said the penalty “doesn’t exist”.

    He added: “It’s a disgrace. Four guys who know nothing about football watch a slow-motion replay in front of the television.

    “What can [Kimpembe] do with his hand while his back is turned?” asked the former Barcelona player, who missed both legs through injury.

    The penalty was awarded after referee Damir Skomina had initially given United a corner after Diogo Dalot’s shot struck Presnel Kimpembe and went over the crossbar.

    Skomina received a signal to check the incident again for a possible handball in the box and after watching a pitchside monitor, changed his decision.

  • UCL: Man Utd stun PSG to reach quarter-finals

    UCL: Man Utd stun PSG to reach quarter-finals

    Marcus Rashford scored a nerveless injury-time penalty as Manchester United staged an incredible comeback to beat Paris St-Germain on away goals and reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

    Rashford thumped home the VAR-awarded spot-kick in the 94th minute after Diogo Dalot’s speculative shot struck Presnel Kimpembe on the arm.

    The odds were stacked against United in Paris, but they became the first team in Champions League and European Cup history, at the 107th time of asking, to overcome a 2-0 or greater home first-leg deficit.

    Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s visitors got the perfect start thanks to Romelu Lukaku’s opportunist strike after two minutes, the Belgium striker latching on to Thilo Kehrer’s blind backpass and finding the net.

    PSG went 3-1 ahead on aggregate when Kylian Mbappe fed a pass to the unmarked Juan Bernat, who slotted home at the back post.

    The hosts then had a succession of chances, with makeshift right-back Eric Bailly enduring a torrid time in his 35 minutes on the pitch, before injury saw him replaced by Dalot.

    Unable to capitalise, PSG were punished when veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon spilled Rashford’s long-range shot and Lukaku converted United’s second.

    The game appeared to be petering out to its conclusion before Dalot fired the ball against the arm of the unfortunate Kimpembe, and after a long delay while the referee consulted his pitch-side monitor, Rashford’s ice-cool penalty sealed a remarkable win.

    The draw for the quarter-finals takes place on Friday, 15 March.

  • Ligue 1: PSG terminates Lassana Diarra’s contract

    Former Arsenal, Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Lassana Diarra has had his contract at French champions Paris St-Germain terminated by mutual consent.

    The 33-year-old joined the Ligue 1 side as a free agent in January 2018, signing an 18-month deal.

    The former France international made 13 appearances in the second half of last season as PSG won the domestic treble.

    But he was restricted to just four outings under German boss Thomas Tuchel this season.

  • I cried for two days after sustaining injury – Neymar

    Brazil striker Neymar says he cried for two days after breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot in late January.

    The Paris St-Germain star is out until April, having sustained the problem in a French Cup game against Strasbourg.

    It is the same injury he suffered in February last year which put his World Cup in doubt, but this new blow “is more complicated”, Neymar said.

    “This time I had a tough time getting over it,” the 27-year-old told Brazilian TV channel Globo.

    “I spent two days at home crying.

    “The first time I hurt myself I said, ‘I’ll have an operation, it has to be fixed as quickly as possible’. I wasn’t sad.”

    Last year, Neymar was out for three months after surgery, returning just in time to play in the World Cup where he scored twice in Brazil’s run to the quarter-finals.

    This time, PSG’s medical staff has decided on conservative treatment of the fracture rather than another operation.

    PSG said that Neymar will be out for around 10 weeks, meaning he will miss their Champions League last-16 tie against Manchester United, which the French side lead 2-0 after last week’s first leg at Old Trafford. The second leg is in Paris on 6 March.

  • Arsene Wenger takes side, says PSG too good for Man Utd

    Arsene Wenger takes side, says PSG too good for Man Utd

    Former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger believes Manchester United’s 2-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain demonstrated the huge gulf in quality between the two teams.

    United’s defeat to PSG marks Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first defeat as interim boss after winning 10 of his first 11 games since taking over from Jose Mourinho in December.

    Arsene Wenger, 69, who took the Gunners to the Champions League final in 2006, said United lost the game in one key area.

    “The difference, technically, in speed of understanding of the game between the two teams, was huge and it became bigger as the game went on,” Wenger told BeIN Sport.

    “Man United played at home and had one shot on goal in a Champions League game – that tells you the difference between the two teams.

    “In the Champions League you can’t be dominated in midfield and the whole evening, Manchester United were dominated in midfield.

    “PSG played with five midfielders and they never lost the ball.

    “Manchester United could never win the ball back and when they had the ball they lost it very quickly because PSG dominated the midfield to win the ball back.

    “They lost the battle in midfield. When you play at home and you cannot keep the ball, you’re always in trouble.”