PSG players party with fans after victory
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain players celebrated with supporters gathered outside the ground after Neymar set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors on Wednesday, taking them through to the Champions League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Germany, but Neymar’s 28thminute header put them ahead on the night in the second leg amid a surreal atmosphere, as banned supporters congregated outside the Parc des Princes instead.
Juan Bernat then deflected in a Pablo Sarabia assist to make it 2-0 and PSG — for whom Kylian Mbappe was only fit enough to appear as a substitute — go through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016. Dortmund finished the night with 10 men after Emre Can was sent off.
This game was played behind closed doors after the French government banned all gatherings of more than 1,000 people due to the coronavirus outbreak, but many still came together outside.
Those supporters brandished flares as the team bus arrived before the game and sang and set off fireworks throughout the match.
PSG players rushed to a concourse at the back of the stadium to celebrate with them at the end of the game after breaking a run of three straight exits in the first knockout round of the competition.
“We played like a team. It was a pleasure to be their coach tonight,” PSG coach Thomas Tuchel told broadcaster RMC Sport. “The atmosphere was great coming here in the bus, with all the ultras singing. We were all singing together and it was a special atmosphere.”
Neymar was caught on camera in tears after the match, having shaken off desperate disappointment in the competition in the last two years, with injury preventing him from playing.