The match-winner.
Here is Barney Ronay’s report.
Pretty much everyone on the pitch has their hands on their heads. Either in dumbfounded joy, PSG’s players having sensationally wriggled out of trouble, or in utter despair, Atalanta seemingly having done enough to shock tonight’s favourites and make it to the semis. On his cooler box, Thomas Tuchel sits, smiles and shakes his head in disbelief. Gian Piero Gasperini wears the thin-lipped grimace of a man who’s just realised someone’s made off with his wallet. It’s a thin line between success and failure, and those two late goals could well have saved Tuchel’s job. Which is fair enough, seeing his second-half changes tilted the tie in his team’s favour ... eventually. PSG will play either Leipzig or Atletico Madrid next Tuesday. What a start to this unique Champions League carnival, though! Not the goal-fest we anticipated, but rollocking entertainment nonetheless. Congratulations to PSG, commiserations to Atalanta. The other six teams have a hell of a lot to live up to. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
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FULL TIME: Atalanta 1-2 PSG
The whistle goes! PSG make it to the semis for the first time since 1995, breaking their modern-day quarter-final curse in dramatic style! Poor old Atalanta crumble, having come so close.
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90 min +6: De Roon batters long. Muriel is clear down the inside-left channel! But under pressure from Marquinhos and Kehrer, on his shoulder, he overruns the ball. He can’t get a shot away and runs the ball out of play. What a chance to save themselves. What an absurd end to this match!
90 min +4: PSG pile on, a delighted tangled mess of joy. Atalanta hold heads in hands. They’re stunned. They can’t believe what’s just happened to them. Four minutes from their first Champions League semi-final, and now look! Utter heartbreak for the underdogs. Sportiello, who could do nothing about it, punches the ball away in despair.
GOAL! Atalanta 1-2 PSG (Choupo-Moting 90+2)
What a smash and grab! Kehrer, in a central position just outside the box, slips wide for Neymar, who plays an instant pass down the left for Mbappe. An instant low cross, and Choupo-Moting rams home. What drama here!
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90 min +1: A sickener for Atalanta, who never looked seriously troubled. And they’ll have to play the rest of the game, and possible extra time, with ten men, because Freuler has taken a big whack to the leg.
GOAL! Atalanta 1-1 PSG (Marquinhos 90)
Out of nothing! Choupo-Moting cuts in from the right and crosses deep for Neymar, who brings the ball down at the far post. He crosses for Marquinhos, who prods home from close range, the ball deflecting off Caldara en route.
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89 min: Mbappe nearly bustles his way clear down the inside-left channel, but Caldara does extremely well to stand firm, block and clear.
87 min: There’s bound to be plenty of added time, so PSG shouldn’t enter Panic Mode quite yet. But here’s Draxler hoicking miles over the bar from long distance. On the touchline, Thomas Tuchel, perched on his Bielsa-lite cool box, throws his arms wide open in impotent frustration.
86 min: From the resulting corner, Choupo-Moting heads over from ten yards! What a chance! Atalanta breathe again.
Photograph: David Ramos/AFP/Getty Images
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85 min: Palomino is booked for bundling over Neymar. Then Choupo-Moting fires in from the right, forcing Caldara to slice hysterically over his own crossbar. The first sign of Atalanta nerves, now they’re getting so close.
84 min: Neymar is dropping deep in the hope of inspiring a revival. But nothing’s coming off at the moment.
82 min: A double change for Atalanta, as Gosens and Zapata make way for Castagne and Da Riva.
80 min: Navas finally departs, Rico coming on. Choupo-Moting replaces Icardi. Then two chances for Mbappe inside a minute, as he first shoots straight at Sportiello, then threatens to zip clear down the left, but he’s closed down by a combination of Palomino and Sportiello.
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79 min: Neymar skedaddles down the left. Caldara tries to rugby tackle him but grasps at fresh air. Neymar then runs the ball out of play, under pressure from Palomino.
78 min: Neymar is down having been stripped of possession by De Roon. There was nothing in the challenge, though, and we play on. Neymar gets up.
77 min: Neymar dribbles gracefully down the inside-left channel, but upon entering the box scuffs a shot straight at Sportiello.
76 min: Muriel turns the ball around the corner down the Atalanta right, and nearly releases Hateboer, but his team-mate can’t stop the ball going out for a goal kick. Navas claims, while limping. It’s not clear why he’s still on.
74 min: Parades is involved immediately, flicking a lovely ball around the corner and sending Mbappe clear down the left. Mbappe tears into the box, but momentarily seems to lose control. He regains his poise and flips towards the bottom left. Sportiello sticks out a boot to kick clear. That looked like PSG’s moment.
72 min: But Navas insists he’s good to go! Rico has to sit back down, after a minute of great confusion. PSG have still made a couple of changes, though. Herrera and Gueye are replaced by Paredes and Draxler.
71 min: Nope. Sergio Rico prepares to come on in his stead.
70 min: Muriel comes on for the goalscorer Pasalic. And there’s a problem for Navas, who is down holding his hamstring. I’m not sure he’ll be able to continue.
69 min: PSG have been hogging the ball. So Zapata does extremely well to steal it off Neymar and draw a foul that gives his team-mates a breather.
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67 min: Toloi sticks an arm across Mbappe and gets a yellow card for his trouble. Mbappe’s already established that he’s got the Atalanta defender on toast; Toloi has a real problem on his hands now.
65 min: Mbappe sends Toloi’s fire engine off to the wrong fire with a drop of the shoulder. That was so cute. He tears down the wing and slips inside for Neymar, who instantly runs into trouble. But this is much better from PSG, who look much happier and more dangerous now Mbappe is on.
63 min: Toloi is foxed by a sassy Mbappe flick down the left. But he makes up for it seconds later as he powerfully heads a PSG free kick clear of a loaded box.
62 min: Neymar drives with poise and purpose at the Atalanta defence. For a second, it looks as though he’ll open the Italians up, but Freuler stands firm and stops his gallop just outside the box. That’s such a fine challenge.
60 min: The first changes of the evening. Atalanta replace Gomez and Djimsiti with Palomino and Malinovskyi, while PSG send on Mbappe. He takes the place of the near-invisible Sarabia.
58 min: Atalanta should be two up. The free kick’s swung into the mixer. PSG allow their opponents to win two headers, then the ball falls to Djimsiti, just to the left of goal, six yards out. He slashes wildly wide in Neymarian fashion. What a chance that was!
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57 min: Herrera is the latest to go into Anthony Taylor’s Big Yellow Book for a laughably crude lunge into the back of Gomez.
55 min: Zapata is checked by Bernat, who seems to be midway through a moment of madness. No second yellow, but it’s a free kick. PSG half clear it. De Roon tries to return the ball into the top left, but his fierce swipe is always sailing high and wide.
54 min: Bernat is booked for a clip on Pasalic. There wasn’t much in that, either. The referee is a bit card-happy this evening.
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52 min: Zapata becomes the fourth Atalanta player to go in the book. This one’s a bit harsh, for a shove on Kehrer as the pair contest a 50-50 ball. But out pops the yellow.
51 min: The resulting free kick is a good 35 yards out. Neymar takes a pop anyway, and his ambitious low drive is deflected out by De Roon for a corner. The set piece is a total non-event.
50 min: De Roon is booked for brazenly tugging Neymar’s shirt. PSG’s best chance could end up being Atalanta’s indiscipline.
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48 min: ... nothing. But on the touchline, Tuchel wears a look of stunned incredulity, scarcely able to believe the amount of time De Roon was given to advance on the PSG box and line up his shot.
47 min: De Roon drops a shoulder and has a dig from distance. Marquinhos closes him down, and the ball loops out for a corner. One corner leads to another, which leads to ...
46 min: PSG have clearly been told what’s what by Thomas Tuchel, as they fly out of the blocks, Kehrer and Gueye taking turns to drive at the Atalanta defence. The ball ends up looping harmlessly into the arms of Sportiello, but that’s an early statement of intent.
Here we go again, then. PSG have 45 minutes to save themselves from another humiliating quarter-final exit. No changes. Kylian Mbappe hasn’t been risked yet, but he’s been warming up on the pitch during the half-time break so we’ll no doubt see him soon enough if PSG don’t get their act together.
Half-time entertainment. Here’s our man Jacob Steinberg with news of tomorrow’s match ... today!
HALF TIME: Atalanta 1-0 PSG
The underdogs are halfway towards their first-ever Champions League semi-final. The normally super-sharp Neymar should spend half-time digging out a new pair of shooting boots.
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45 min +1: Freuler is booked for manhandling Neymar in the centre circle. [Not a euphemism]
45 min: Neymar whips the free kick in violently, but with Marquinhos steaming towards the ball, Caldara eyebrows it clear.
44 min: Caldara nicks Neymar’s heel as he races down the right. Another free kick that allows PSG to load the box.
42 min: Another absurd Neymar miss! Hateboer plays a clueless backpass to nobody, and Neymar is racing off down the PSG left! He romps towards the box, and surely must score ... but he slices a wild and frankly awful effort miles high and left of the target, with Sportiello surprised and stranded in no-man’s land! That is preposterous. He’s been sent clear three times! Never mind not scoring; he hasn’t even made the keeper work once.
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41 min: Sarabia drives down the left, having been released by Neymar. He fizzes a ball through the six-yard box, but there’s only Icardi trying to get there ... and he can’t.
40 min: Zapata plays a cute ball around the corner and nearly releases Gosens down the left, but Kimpembe is over quickly to intercept.
39 min: Sportiello dawdles over a clearance again, and is nearly closed down by Neymar. The reserve keeper wants to watch this. He’s nearly been embarrassed twice now.
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38 min: Neymar curls the free kick long to Sarabia, just to the left of the six-yard box. Sarabia floats a hopeless ball into the arms of Sportiello.
37 min: The first yellow card is awarded to Djimsiti, who cynically checks Icardi as the PSG attacker threatens to break down the right.
35 min: Neymar whips the free kick over the wall and towards the top left, but it’s all too careful and considered, and an easy snaffled for Sportiello. Still, that’s PSG’s first effort on target.
34 min: Neymar and Sarabia one-two their way down the left. Sarabia’s pull back is to nobody in particular, but Gueye bustles hard to win it back and he’s bowled over by Freuler. A free kick for PSG, 25 yards out, a little left of centre.
33 min: Hateboer and Pasalic ping it around delightfully as they advance down the right. The final ball doesn’t quite come off and PSG can hack clear. Atalanta are so much fun to watch.
31 min: More space for Gomez down the right. He swings into the middle, hopeful of finding Zapata, but the cross is an inch or two too high.
30 min: Gomez and Hateboer combine well down the right and nearly open PSG up. The door’s slammed shut, just in time, but the French champs are on the rack here.
28 min: The Italian underdogs lead deservedly. But they’ll have to keep an eye on Neymar, who nutmegs Pasalic, then glides in from the left before fizzing a low reverse shot inches wide of the left-hand post. Not sure Sportiello would have got to that, had it been on target.
GOAL! Atalanta 1-0 PSG (Pasalic 26)
Atalanta ping it around metronomically, working PSG this way and that. Suddenly Zapata, in the D, forces the ball right for Pasalic, who opens his body and curls delightfully into the top left! Navas had no chance!
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24 min: Neymar dribbles cutely down the left, sashaying through the smallest of gaps to reach the box and then the byline. He cuts back sharply, but there’s nobody there in white to have a dig and Atalanta clear.
22 min: Such an odd game, though. Atalanta continue to dominate, and they’re winning all those headers in the PSG box. But Neymar has found himself in two extremely promising situations, and should have scored at least one, probably two. A goalfest may break out shortly.
20 min: Another free kick for Atalanta out on the left. When it’s swung in, Pasalic wins the header but it’s an easy pick for Navas. Atalanta have won just about every header in the PSG box! The French champions can’t keep letting them do this.
19 min: Now Neymar skitters down the left, Atalanta’s defence having disappeared into the ether. Neymar enters the box and considers shooting, but tries to find Icardi in the middle instead. His ball is neither one thing nor the other, and it trundles away from danger harmlessly.
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18 min: PSG don’t look comfortable with the Atalanta press. They ship possession in their own half, and the Italians draw some pretty triangles. Gomez nearly breaks clear down the right but Bernat does well to close him down.
16 min: Having been under the cosh a little, PSG take the sting out of the game with some sterile possession. It’s much required. The rank weirdness of that Neymar miss aside, Atalanta have been the better side in these opening exchanges.
14 min: Gosens embarks on a dribble down the left and is stopped by Kehrer in the ungainly style. A free kick and a chance to cause more mayhem in the PSG box. It’s swung into the mixer, and Djimsiti eyebrows a header well wide left. PSG need to start winning some of these headers. It’s a confident start by the Italians.
12 min: A corner on the right leads to another on the left. From that second one, Caldara attempts to guide a clever backwards header towards the bottom right. Navas keeps that one out brilliantly, too, though the flag then goes up for offside so it wouldn’t have counted anyway.
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11 min: Gomes advances down the inside left and swings long for Hateboer, rushing in from the right. Hateboer heads down, the ball bouncing back up towards the top right. Navas claws out for a corner, a fine save.
9 min: Sportiello hovers over a garden-variety clearance and is nearly closed down. He eventually hacks clear with great uncertainty. Some early nerves on display from Atalanta’s stand-in keeper, their usual guy Pierluigi Gollini out for the duration of this tournament.
7 min: The Neymar chance doesn’t get any better the more you look at it. On the bench, Thomas Tuchel, his leg bound like the farmer in Withnail & I, reacted by spinning around in shock and disgust. But the way this match has opened, there’ll be other chances.
5 min: There were audible gasps from the few onlookers as Neymar fluffed that chance. That looked a sure thing from the moment he was sent scampering clear. Somewhere else in the multiverse, the scoreline of this match is 1-1. More of this, please!
3 min: An astonishing miss by Neymar! Icardi spins in the centre circle and slips the ball to the Brazilian genius, who tears clear of the Atalanta defence. He’s one on one with Sportiello. He opens his body and sidefoots past the keeper ... but miles wide of the right-hand post!
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2 min: Zapata slips a ball down the inside-left channel, and Gomez is found in an absurd amount of space. He enters the box and shoots low and hard, straight at Navas. He should have done better.
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Atalanta get the ball rolling. They’re immediately on the front foot, Pasalic busying himself down the right and winning a throw deep in PSG territory. From it, Zapata nearly breaks into the box, but the door’s quickly closed. Gauntlet down immediately.
A moment of silence first, in memory of all those souls taken by Covid-19. RIP.
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The teams are out! Atalanta wear their first-choice blue and black stripes. That forces PSG into their second kit of white shirts with red-and-blue stripe. The Champions League theme bangs out of the PA system, even though there’s nobody here to boo it. Everyone applauds nervously when it comes to an end. We’ll be off in a minute!
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A graphic flashed up by BT Sport illustrates why we could be in for a some top-notch entertainment tonight. It’s a table of most goals per game in Europe’s top five leagues, and it looks like this:
- 2.9: Bayern Munich
- 2.8: PSG
- 2.7: Manchester City
- 2.6: Atalanta
- 2.5: Borussia Dortmund
A PSG fan since childhood writes: “I honestly wouldn’t mind losing against Atalanta,” insists Kári Tulinius. “Not that I won’t be supporting my club, tribalism has a hold on the soul, but if PSG has to lose to somebody this year, I’d rather it would be Atalanta than anyone else. So, I hope that I’ll be cheering one of these two teams on in the final.” Ah the mental gymnastics we football fans perform to limit potential heartache, as tension rises before kick-off and despair waits around the corner to give us a good shoeing. God speed, PSG fans. God speed, Atalanta supporters. Good luck tonight, everyone, and remember: rationalisation can be your friend.
Some more of the old required reading. Jonathan Wilson has Atalanta down as narrow victors tonight, partly on account of match sharpness, Serie A having been completed while Ligue 1 was not. Other opinions are available and valid, but then everyone on the internet knows that already, I don’t know why I mention it really.
Retro MBM: the last-16 files. Atalanta got past Valencia by spanking them 4-1 and then 4-3. PSG meanwhile had to battle back after losing 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund, making it through with a measured 2-0 second-leg win.
Required pre-match reading.
Atalanta have to do without Josip Iličić, who put four past Valencia in their last Champions League match, and is missing for unspecified personal reasons. He hasn’t played since facing Juventus early last month. Meanwhile goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini has a knee injury; Marco Sportiello takes over in between the sticks.
Kylian Mbappe makes the PSG bench, having recovered from an ankle sprain. Angel di Maria misses out through suspension.
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The teams
Atalanta: Sportiello, Toloi, Caldara, Djimsiti, Hateboer, de Roon, Freuler, Gosens, Gomez, Pasalic, Zapata.
Subs: Sutalo, Palomino, Czyborra, Muriel, Piccoli, Malinovsky, Da Riva, Castagne, Bellanova, Gelmi, Rossi, Colley.
Paris Saint-Germain: Navas, Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Kimpembe, Marquinhos, Sarabia, Gueye, Ander Herrera, Bernat, Icardi, Neymar.
Subs: Mbappe, Paredes, Sergio Rico, Choupo-Moting, Diallo, Draxler, Bakker, Kalimuendo, Bulka, Dagba, Mbe Soh, Ruiz-Atil.
Referee: Anthony Taylor (England).
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Preamble
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio. La Dea. The Goddess. She’s only ever won one trophy in her 113-year existence: the 1963 Coppa Italia. Compare and contrast to Paris Saint Germain, who have lifted two trophies in their last two matches, winning both French cup finals to complete a domestic treble. Atalanta have suffered their two heaviest European defeats this season, losing 4-0 away to Dinamo Zagreb and 5-1 at Manchester City; PSG have got the better of Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund. Atalanta are missing their leading scorer Josip Iličić; PSG will likely start with Neymar and have Kylian Mbappe in reserve. This doesn’t seem fair.
But look at it from another angle. Despite all the recent striving, PSG haven’t made it to the semis of the Champions League since their one visit in 1995. Atalanta haven’t got there at all, admittedly, but they’re not going into this match lumbered with the weight of expectation and a Qatari-funded complex. Atalanta are unbeaten against French opposition, while PSG have only won twice against an Italian side and that’s in 20 attempts, with the latest victory coming 24 years ago. And while PSG certainly know where the goal is, having scored 65 times in 20 games during 2020, Atalanta are even more renowned for their scoring prowess, their total of 98 Serie A goals this season being the highest in that notoriously stingy division since 1950. There’s a reason they’ve made it this far.
So while Thomas Tuchel’s side are favourites to make it to the semis for the first time, Gian Piero Gasperini’s men are more than capable of turning them over. The first Champions League quarter-final at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica - the Estádio da Luz to ye and me - is a one-off tie. It could go to extra time. It could go to penalties. It could be a goal-fest. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm BST, 9pm in Lisbon.
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