Paris Saint-Germain’s record goalscorer, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, showed her class yet again as she scored twice to help the French side secure a narrow victory against Bayern Munich in their Women’s Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Katoto struck either side of half-time at the Allianz Arena, with Klara Bühl getting one back for the hosts with via an 83rd-minute free-kick. That goal could prove crucial in the second leg at the Parc des Princes next week but for now PSG will feel they are in the driving seat after an excellent away win in Germany.
Bayern had started brightly in front of a crowd of 13,000 but fell behind on 19 minutes when Katoto thundered a shot into the roof of the net after Kadidiatou Diani’s effort had struck the crossbar.
Bayern fought back and came close to equalising through the substitute Sydney Lohmann but then suffered the sucker punch of conceding another Katoto goal, with the 23-year-old climbing high on 71 minutes to head Sandy Baltimore’s corner past the goalkeeper Janina Leitzig.
Lohmann again went close to scoring before Bühl finally did beat Barbora Votikova in the PSG goal via a powerfully taken set-piece.
“We are very happy with the win, it was a tough game for us against a really good Bayern side,” the PSG defender Amanda Ilestedt said. “We were really efficient, we took our chances and then we were really working hard for each other.”
Bayern will need to end PSG’s excellent record in the Champions League so far this season if they are to progress to the semi-finals, with the French champions having won each of the seven games they have played in Paris in the competition.
“I think we were the better team in the first half, and were very active down the wings but lacked that final touch,” the Bayern head coach, Jens Scheuer, said. “We delivered a fantastic performance. We were a bit unlucky.”
