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Despite defeating Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain shocks everyone by placing second in Group H.
Paris Saint-Germain defeated Juventus 2-1 at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday in the Champions League, although they came in a heartbreaking second in their group.
Kylian Mbappe scored the game’s first goal and helped set up the winning goal.
PSG came into the match thinking they needed to win to ensure the top spot in Group H after entering the day level on points but ahead on goal difference over Benfica, who were playing Maccabi Haifa at the same time.
PSG appeared to be on course to win the group after goals from Mbappe and Nuno Mendes, but Benfica defeated Haifa 6-1 to beat them and stay level on points with PSG while passing them on goal differential to win the group on overall away goals scored.
As he has done during his whole Champions League career, Mbappe opened the scoring with a beautiful goal. After receiving the ball from Lionel Messi, the France international eluded his defender, moved to his right, and unleashed an unstoppable shot from the top of the area past Wojciech Szczesny to give PSG the lead.
Despite Mbappe’s flash of brilliance, Juventus, who were already out of the tournament, were unfazed and applied pressure to the PSG defence in the minutes that followed the opening goal. Manuel Locatelli and Juan Cuadrado both just missed long-range attempts.
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As the teams traded chances at the 30-minute mark, Mbappe’s optimistic shot from 30 yards out went near, and Fabio Miretti almost missed at Gianluigi Donnarumma’s far post after finding space in the area.
Finally, Juventus earned a point through the boot of club legend Leonardo Bonucci, who diverted a low Cuadrado header over the goalmouth and into the back of the net just before halftime to tie the score.
Juventus had the upper hand in the opening seconds of the second half, but substitute Mendes gave PSG the lead with a well-taken goal from a Mbappe assist just moments after coming on to replace Juan Bernat.
Filip Kostic’s 78th-minute rocket from the top of the box was saved by Donnarumma but fell right into the path of Locatelli for an easy finish that would have levelled the score only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
With Benfica beating Maccabi Haifa, Juventus still secured a spot in the Europe League despite the defeat and, along with PSG and the Portuguese champions will learn their opponents for the upcoming rounds in Monday’s draw.
Juventus suffered its first-ever five-game Champions League group stage losing streak as a result of the defeat.
Prior to this season, they had only ever suffered five defeats in one Champions League season back in 2002-03, when they lost one game in the first group stage, three in the second as well as one of their semifinal legs.