Manchester City and Mahrez, England, returned with a precious victory from the French stadium, Paris Saint-Germain, 2-1, this evening, Wednesday, in the match that was hosted by the Princes Park Stadium, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
City’s brace was scored by Kevin De Bruyne in the 64th minute and Riyad Mahrez in the 71st minute, while Saint-Germain scored the only goal by Marquinhos in the 15th minute, with the return match scheduled for next week at Al Ittihad Stadium.
Paris’ first attempt came in the second minute, with a quick counter attack by Mbappe, passing the ball to Neymar, who in turn fired a powerful ball from inside the penalty area, which was blocked by Ederson.
Neymar exchanged the ball with Verratti inside the penalty area in the 13th minute, and the Brazilian fired a rocket that Ederson shone in sending it to a corner kick.
Paris opened the scoring in the 15th minute, after Di Maria sent a cross from a corner kick, and Marquinhos raised it to a powerful header that hit the net.
City’s first offensive appearance came in the 21st minute, after Bernardo received a long through ball inside the penalty area from Cancello, hitting a ball at the jumper that Navas sent away to a corner kick.
Paris almost added the second goal in the 28th minute in the same image as the first goal, after Neymar sent a cross from a corner kick, and Paredes lifted it with a header that passed shortly to the post.
With the difficulty of penetrating the Paris defense, Cancelo tried to surprise Navas with a shot from outside the penalty area in the 41st minute, which went wide.
A minute later, Bernardo passed the ball to the uncontrolled Voden inside the penalty area, to shoot a ball in the middle of the goal, which was blocked by Navas, ending the first half with Saint Germain advancing with an unanswered goal.
Paris appeared for the first time in the second half in the 57th minute, after Di Maria followed a cross from Neymar from a corner kick, hitting a header that passed next to the post.
City almost equalized the score in the 61st minute, with a kick by De Bruyne from inside the penalty area, the crossbar slightly higher.
And then Guardiola made the first switch for City, with Zinchenko’s descent at Cancelo’s expense.
City succeeded in adjusting the result in the 64th minute, after De Bruyne sent a cross from the edge of the penalty area, passed in front of everyone and deceived Navas and settled the net.
City added the second goal in the 71st minute, from a violation from the borders of the penalty area, which was carried out by Mahrez, shooting a ball directly that penetrated the human wall, and Navas failed to address it.
Paris continued to suffer, after the referee declared the red card in the face of Jay in the 78th minute, after his violent intervention on Gundogan in the middle of the stadium.
After the expulsion, Pochettino made the first substitution by dropping Danilo at the expense of Di Maria, followed by Herrera at the expense of Paredes in the 83rd minute
Mahrez tried to add the third goal in the 84th minute, with a powerful ground shot from the edge of the penalty area, which passed shortly to the post.
Fodin penetrated from the rear in the 87th minute, until he reached the penalty area with a powerful ball, which Navas starred in the response.
De Bruyne fired a missile from the edge of the penalty area in the fourth minute of stoppage time, and it went over the bar just above the bar to end the meeting with Manchester City winning (2-1), with an amazing goal of Mahrez.