Muscat Daily

Neymar’s frustratin­g night

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been available for the two legs of this tie. "It is not because of tonight that we are eliminated," said captain Manuel Neuer.

"We deserved our win here, but the result in Munich was not good enough.

"It is not all negative. We won the Club World Cup, we have a good chance to win the Bundesliga too, so in the end it will be a positive season."

Bayern certainly played their part in an epic tie that will live long in the memory and deserved to be played before a full house both in Munich and here.

For all their injuries, their starting line-up was still impressive, and with Thomas Mueller leading from the front and co-ordinating their suffocatin­g press, Bayern took the game to their hosts.

That suited PSG, who have produced their best performanc­es this season away from home and could look to hit the Germans on the break with the devastatin­g pace of Kylian Mbappe.

The Parisians, to be fair, were without two huge players of their own in captain Marquinhos and playmaker Marco Verratti, but they did have Mbappe and Neymar.

The Brazilian was left frustrated by a combinatio­n of Neuer and the frame of the goal in the first half. Twice the Bayern goalkeeper saved from Neymar before the world's most expensive player hit a superb shot off the angle of bar and far post in the 37th minute.

On 39 minutes another breakaway finished with Mbappe squaring to Neymar, who this time saw his effort strike the base of the post.

Bayern could have been dead and buried, but within a minute of that they were in front on the night.

Mueller set up David Alaba for a first-time shot that Keylor Navas saved. The ball looped up to Choupo-Moting and he headed in. The Cameroon forward, who scored once in ten Champions League appearance­s across two seasons at PSG, now had his second goal against his old club in this tie.

Bayern could have scored again before the break as a thunderous strike by Alaba was stopped by Navas, keeping PSG ahead on away goals.

Mbappe had an effort disallowed for offside, while another Bayern goal never arrived, and the final whistle was met with roars of delight from the home bench.

 ?? (AFP) ?? PSG's Kylian Mbappe (R) fights for the ball with Bayern Munich's Benjamin Pavard at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, on Tuesday
(AFP) PSG's Kylian Mbappe (R) fights for the ball with Bayern Munich's Benjamin Pavard at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, on Tuesday
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