Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich in a thrilling first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie in Munich on Wednesday.
Mbappe’s goals bracketed strikes from Marquinhos, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Thomas Muller to give the defending champions — who were without star striker Robert Lewandowski — a steep hill to climb for the return leg in Paris next week.
PSG went ahead just three minutes after the opening whistle with a quick counter-attack that the excellent Mbappe finished off after Neymar rolled the ball into his path on the right.
The visitors had the goal in the net in the 12th minute through Julian Draxler but the side judge rightly ruled Mbappe offside in the build up.
PSG went two goals in front after 28 minutes when Marquinhos settled and stroked home from a smart Neymar pass that caught the Bayern back line out of position.
Bayern, who’d peppered PSG with shots all night, got a deserved goal through Choupo-Moting in the 37th minute, and tied the game in the 60th minute with a characteristic Muller header in the box.
Mbappe, though, put the Parisians ahead for good eight minutes later with a fine individual effort from another counter-attack — the World Cup winner cutting in from the left and beating Manuel Neuer at the near post.
The goals marked the young France international’s seventh in the Champions League knockout stages, passing Zlatan Ibrahimovic for the most in PSG history. The brace — his third in the UCL knockouts — also tied Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland for the second most by a player before turning 23 in the competition’s history. Lionel Messi had four such games.
This was another eye-catching result in Europe for Mauricio Pochettino’s side after they thrashed Barcelona 4-1 in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
That win was all the more impressive as it happened at the Nou Camp and PSG once again went to the home of a European giant to pull off a shock result.
Against a side that had not lost any of its previous 19 games in the Champions League – with 18 of those victories – the visitors produced a tactically brilliant display as they stood up to Bayern’s relentless attacks before utilising the pace of Neymar and Mbappe to pick them off on the break.
The return leg will be played on Tuesday in Paris.
