FULL TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Chelsea
And that’s that! Chelsea came so close to a brilliantly determined draw. But Edinson Cavani’s late winner has given the French champions an advantage that, on balance, was probably deserved. Chelsea will be happy to still be right in this tie, though. The second leg at Stamford Bridge promises to be another classic. It certainly will be if it’s anything like this highly entertaining encounter.
90 min +2: In the second minute of the two that are added, Willian goes romping down the left, then hooks a gorgeous diagonal ball towards Pedro, cutting into the area from the right. Pedro takes it first time, and hammers a rising shot inches wide of the top-right corner. So close to late drama!
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90 min: Costa dribbles towards the PSG box. He should have a batter at goal from 20 yards, but hesitates and allows Luiz to slide in and clear. The hosts go up the other end, Maxwell hooking into the Chelsea box from the left. At the far post, the ball drops at Ibrahimovic’s feet. He’s got to score! But he sidefoots straight into Courtois’s chest. A bad miss, but a fine save nonetheless. Courtois did very well to make himself large there.
88 min: Pedro, gifted the ball 25 yards from goal, slides a clever pass down the inside-left channel and is inches away from finding Oscar free on goal. But it’s a tad too strong, and Marquinhos can swing a tired leg at the ball to clear. It’s suddenly got very tense at the Parc des Princes.
87 min: Willian’s set piece distribution has been strangely off tonight. This one’s looped high into the area, and easy pickings for Trapp.
86 min: A chance for Chelsea here, though. Costa is needlessly tripped by Thiago Silva to the left of the PSG box. Costa was going nowhere there, but now Chelsea have a chance to load the box in search of a second equaliser.
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85 min: ... the ball finds Thiago Silva on the edge of the box, to the left of the D. Hoof! It’s over the bar. Chelsea are hanging on a bit here. The next five minutes plus stoppages are so important.
84 min: Marquinhos dribbles at pace into the Chelsea box from the right, scampering after a neat Pastore flick. He curls low towards the bottom left. Cahill steps in to deflect it out of play on the right. And from the corner...
82 min: Di Maria, sitting deep, threads a ball out to the right. Pastore should control and storm into the area, but he’s still a bit cold, and his touch is heavy. Chelsea were a little out of shape at the back there. A 2-1 result wouldn’t be the end of the world, not at all, but another goal for the French champions would put their English counterparts into a bit of bother.
80 min: A double change for the hosts: Rabiot and Pastore come on for Verratti and Matuidi.
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GOAL! Paris Saint-German 2-1 Chelsea (Cavani 78)
PSG were beginning to look frustrated again. But suddenly they burst into action, and the substitute does the trick! It was so simple. Ibrahimovic pitching-wedged a pass down the inside-right channel to release Cavani into the box. He draws Courtois and beats the keeper at the near post by slotting the ball under the diving keeper. Oscar was so close to giving Chelsea the lead, but now look!
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77 min: A long Chelsea hoick upfield, and Oscar is this close to taking it down and scooting clear on goal. He can’t quite extend his leg enough, and the ball bounces through to Trapp, who manages to guide the ball away from danger.
76 min: Chelsea pass the ball this way and that, a sustained period of possession, though they can’t break into the PSG final third. No matter, they’re frustrating the home fans, who fill the air with piercing whistles. The clock is fast becoming Chelsea’s friend.
74 min: Lucas Moura was brilliant in the first half, but a little quieter in this second period. As a result, he’s hooked in favour of Edinson Cavani.
72 min: Oscar comes on for Hazard. “I notice that your choice of half-time musical entertainment replicated the first-half scoring repertoire of ankle tap, ankle tap then head flick, toe tap,” writes noted jazz critic Philip Larkin Raymond Reardon.
70 min: Luiz and Lucas both go in the referee’s book in quick succession, for cynical trips on Costa and Rahman respectively. A little frustration bubbling in Parisian noggins right now.
67 min: Di Maria curls the free kick powerfully towards the bottom left. It’s flying in, but Courtois, at full stretch, turns the ball round for a corner. What a save! The corner comes to nothing. This is a fantastic battle. PSG are relentless in attack, but Chelsea are holding out marvellously. Champions League football at its best. It’s almost as though Uefa should do away with the tedious groups and make their tournament knock-out from the start. Who’s with me? Oh good! Everyone!
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66 min: Chelsea are fighting a rearguard action here. A deep Di Maria cross from the left. It nearly finds the head of Ibrahimovic at the far post, but Ivanovic is there again, this time to flick a header out right for a corner. From the set piece, the ball drops to Verratti to the right of the Chelsea D. Pedro leaps and plants his studs on poor Verratti’s nips. That’s a booking, and a free kick in a very dangerous position.
64 min: An absurd scuffle in the Chelsea six-yard box, Maxwell having started it all with a burst down the left, Ibrahimovic heading down into a melee. The ball breaks to Matuidi, who surely must Mikel it home from close range. But he batters the ball straight into Ivanovic’s trouser arrangement. The Chelsea defender was beyond brave there. Oof! Ooyah! But that’s the danger cleared. What a block!
63 min: Willian goes on a long solo ramble down the left wing, before cutting inside and across the front of the PSG box. He claims to have been illegally tumbled to the floor by Luiz, but he’s not getting the decision.
61 min: Lucas bursts down the inside-right channel, set clear by a clever dink inside by Ibrahomovic. On the edge of the area, he pearls a shot goalwards, though it’s straight at Courtois, who parries with strong arms. “To offer a counter argument to Harrington / St Etienne cops, Chelsea aren’t exactly blameless on the soap-opera and football-despoiling-oligarchy fronts,” argues Jordan Pickering, tongue out in concentration, working furiously around the rim of some tinned worms.
60 min: Marquinhos wins yet another Paris corner, on the right. The set piece comes to nothing, but PSG are beginning to turn the screw again.
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59 min: From the corner, the ball’s worked out to the right for Lucas, who loops a long cross back in. Di Maria, on the left of the D, shapes like Zidane to volley goalwards, but his attempt at the spectacular is wild and high.
58 min: A corner for PSG out on the left. Di Maria whips it to the near post, but Fabregas gets a brave header away, and is clattered by Thiago Motta for his trouble. Free kick. But the hosts are quickly coming back at Chelsea, Di Maria sliding a pass down the left for Maxwell this time. Maxwell shapes to shoot, but the ball’s bundled out of play to the left of goal by Courtois, out quickly to smother.
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56 min: Maxwell slides Di Maria into acres down the Chelsea left. Pedro was ball watching. Cahill comes to his team-mates aid by slide-hooking Di Maria’s low cross out of the six-yard box, with blue shirts swarming. Marvellous defending by Cahill.
53 min: Ibrahimovic drops a shoulder to gain a yard on Rahman, in the right-hand section of the Chelsea box. He lashes a shot towards the near post. Courtois tips it round. The corner leads to nowt. This is marvellous end-to-end entertainment. “I’ll put 50p on Ibrahimovic getting himself sent off if Chelsea score the second,” replies Kelvin. No flies on Kelvin. Now that’s responsible betting.
52 min: Actually, the corner doesn’t quite come to nothing: Chelsea flood upfield, and Costa manages to dribble a shot straight at Trapp from 25 yards. Not particularly impressive, though Chelsea are beginning to look dangerous on the break, with the security of that away goal in their pocket, and the hosts forced to press.
51 min: Marquinhos cleverly heads the ball past Rahman on the right. He bursts into the box, but can’t find a man in the middle with his low cross. PSG come at Chelsea again, Di Maria having a whack from 25 yards. His rising shot is straight at Courtois, and probably going over, but it’s swerving around enough for the keeper to take no chances. He fingertips over. The corner comes to nothing.
49 min: Lucas considers shooting from the edge of the Chelsea box. His shot is blocked and Chelsea spring clear on the break. Willian scoots upfield at speed, then slides the ball left to Costa, who is free in the area, albeit faced with a tight angle. His low, first-time shot is rather brilliantly saved by Trapp, the ball whistling out on the left, clear of danger. Chelsea so very close to a second away goal, and one that’d give PSG some serious thinking to do.
47 min: A slightly ponderous start to the second half. But it clanks into life when Verratti and Hazard go up to contest a high ball and accidentally whack each other. Ooyah oof. They’ll both be OK after a squeeze of the sponge. Meanwhile Paul Harrington had a conversation with a French cop in Burgundy yesterday. “He was a St Etienne fan. Said for the first time in his life he wanted the English to beat the French team. Apparently he and his mates are fed up with the soap opera that is PSG and their dominance of French football. Likes what Leicester are doing.” In fairness, who outside of Nottingham and Derby doesn’t?
And we're off again!
The hosts get the ball rolling for the second half. No changes. Meanwhile a surname-shunning chap called Kelvin has noticed “a weird coincidence. The only two players in the ref’s naughty book are also the scorers. What are the odds?” Not sure, but 50p says they won’t both score another and get themselves sent off in the second half. Other bookmakers are available. Please bet responsibly.
Half-term entertainment: The co-founder of the Hot Club of France with a nod to the PSG back four.
HALF TIME: Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Chelsea
And that was the last kick of a highly entertaining first half. After a very slow start, Chelsea deserved something from that first 45, and they got it: a precious away goal. The second half promises to be a cracker. No flipping!
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GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Chelsea (Mikel 45+1)
Willian whips the corner to the near post. Costa eyebrows a flick onwards. And the ball drops to Mikel, six yards out. No messing: he batters the ball into the right-hand side of the goal! Having just deflected the opener into his own net, this is some response. He’s the bizarro Tommy Hutchison at the 1981 FA Cup final! Er, sort of.
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45 min: Willian slides Fabregas into the box down the right. Fabregas has a slap shot. The ball breaks off Matuidi, out for a corner. From which...
44 min: Willian takes, looking for the top right. The ball flicks off the wall, but there’s no Ibrahimovicesque good fortune for Willian. The ball sails out harmlessly to the right for a corner, and the set piece comes to nothing.
43 min: Or can they go one better, and equalise? Hazard busies himself down the right, and shuttles the ball inside for Willian, who threatens to break into the area. Thiago Silva is forced to come across and obstruct, a couple of yards outside the box. A free kick to the right of the D - and it’s PSG in some danger now.
42 min: Verratti creams a long pass from the right to Matuidi on the left. The PSG midfielder breaks into the box, but Pedro comes across to nick the ball away just in time. Chelsea have to get to half time without conceding another.
41 min: PSG weren’t exactly rocking, but Chelsea had started to come at the hosts a little, so that goal arrived at exactly the right time. The crowd are giving it plenty again, while on the pitch, PSG’s passes are sticking to feet once more.
GOAL! Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 Chelsea (Ibrahimovic 39)
Ibrahimovic batters low, towards the bottom left. The ball clips off Mikel’s ankle and into the bottom right, Courtois having followed the initial path of what in truth was a poor strike. But that’s flown into the net, and the champions of France draw first blood! A dismal minute for poor old Mikel.
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38 min: Lucas Moura is PSG’s most potent attacker tonight. He bursts down the inside-left channel and is clipped by Mikel just before he enters the box. A booking for the Chelsea midfielder. Not much in the way of contact, but cynical enough. A tempter for Ibrahimovic, this free kick. He looks very interested. Chelsea in some danger.
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37 min: Ibrahimovic drives down the inside-left channel and slides wide to Lucas, who earns a corner off Azpilicueta. The set piece is swallowed up by Courtois. Ibrahimovic claimed he was checked as he ran into the box ahead of the corner, but the referee isn’t interested.
36 min: A chance for the home support to find their lungs again as Di Maria goes scampering after a long hoof down the Paris left. He reaches the edge of the area, and lashes a low shot across the face of goal. Courtois has it covered, and the ball flies out of play, well to the right of goal.
33 min: PSG are losing their heads a little, frustration very much the top note in the stands, and in their play. A quick free kick down the left by Chelsea sends Hazard clear. He dinks to the far post, where Ivanovic lashes a loose ball into the side netting. Then Di Maria is jumping around in frustration after a Pedro slide tackle in the midfield on Matuidi: it was a common-or-garden foul, nothing more, and the referee isn’t getting his cards out. Finally Di Maria swings a cross into the Chelsea box from the right. Ibrahimovic has a jump on Cahill, eight yards out, but rather snatches at the effort, heading it down, up and over the bar.
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31 min: Now it’s Chelsea who are winning most of the 50-50 duels. Costa, Willian and Fabregas scrap in the middle of the park. Fabregas threatens to break down the right, and is upended by Verratti, frustration creeping into the home side’s play. A chance for Chelsea to load the box. Which they do, but Willian’s dead-ball expertise lets him down for once. An uncharacteristically poor free kick which is easily cleared by PSG.
28 min: Di Maria cuts in from the right and tries to find a little space to shoot. He’s quickly crowded off the ball, and soon enough PSG are faffing around in the centre circle. The no-nonsense incisiveness of their early attacks is no more. Their play has slowed down a bit. Chelsea look more comfortable now.
26 min: Pedro is in more space down the right. His low, fizzing cross somehow weaves its way past Azpilicueta, who shapes to sidefoot a shot goalwards from eight yards. Pedro and Costa were also nearby, but wrong-footed by the route of the cross. PSG clear. Chelsea have worked their way into this game after a slow start.
24 min: PSG go up the other end. Ibrahomovic has a dig from 25 yards, but it squirts weakly wide left of the target, Courtois escorting it out of play with a dismissive wave. Compared to what was happening earlier, that wasn’t such a sharp attack from the hosts. I wonder if that Costa chance has shaken their self-belief a little bit?
23 min: More Chelsea passing, this way and that. Suddenly Rahman breaks down the left, and curls a perfect cross onto Costa’s head, eight yards out, Luiz out of the game. Costa heads straight at Trapp. Either side, and it’s the opening goal. Even so, Trapp has to pull off a magnificent reaction save, palming the ball up onto the crossbar and out for a corner. Trapp claims the set piece. What a chance!
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22 min: This is a lot better from Chelsea, Fabregas, Costa, Hazard and Pedro taking turns to pass the ball along the front of the Paris defence. They can’t quite spring Costa into the box down the inside-left, but it wasn’t for the want of trying, and they weren’t that far away. Something for the hosts to think about at last.
19 min: The first booking of the tie, and it goes to Ibrahimovic. He feigns innocence, but he can have no arguments, a late connection on Mikel’s ankle as he chases the Chelsea midfielder in the middle of the park. That’s a pretty bad one, actually: a full-on tread on Mikel’s half-planted leg, his ankle bending over. Not enough for a red card, not quite, but then you’ve seen them given if the ref’s in a mood.
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17 min: A lovely fast pace to this game. Matuidi slides a ball down the middle of the park. Lucas threatens to break clear on goal, but Azpilicueta is across to cover brilliantly, gets a foot in just in time, and the ball pings off Lucas and out of play to the right of goal. Danger over. This time. Chelsea don’t look totally secure. Their best bet is to hold out for another ten minutes or so, and hope PSG get frustrated.
16 min: Pedro embarks on a wander down the Chelsea right. Paris look a little light at the back, but there’s nobody in white keeping up, and his cross is easily intercepted and cleared.
15 min: Chelsea can’t keep hold of the ball at all. This is all PSG. A lot of passing at the back. Suddenly Luiz strides forwards and wallops a long pass down the inside-left channel. Di Maria very nearly latches onto it. Not quite, there’s too much on the pass, and Courtois gathers.
13 min: Maxwell is sent scampering into acres down the left by Matuidi. Azpilicueta on his holidays upfield. Maxwell fizzes a low one into the box, across the wet turf. Courtois gathers well, under pressure from Di Maria and Lucas, who are both pelting in from the other side, hoping for a tap-in.
12 min: Ibrahimovic tries to chip one over the wall and towards the top left. It’s not a bad effort, inches wide of the post, but it wasn’t travelling fast and it looked as though Courtois would have easily gathered the ball had it been on target.
11 min: This could be dangerous. Willian clanks into the back of Ibrahimovic, who is retaining possession, but doing little else, 30 yards from goal, just to the left of centre. It’s a long way out, but Ibrahimovic looks like he fancies this.
9 min: Chelsea finally make it up the other end of the field, Costa twisting around down the left. He enters the box, a purposeful run, but is stopped in his tracks by Thiago Silva. That’s a bit better from the English champions, though.
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8 min: Verratti, out on the right, plays a diagonal pass to Ibrahimovic on the left of the Chelsea D. The big man heads down towards Lucas, who takes one touch too many when he really should be shooting. His eventual effort is blocked. Chelsea can’t carry on like this, though. It’s all Paris. They’ve shown nothing in attack yet.
7 min: Di Maria makes a pest of himself down the right wing, hassling and harrying and nearly winning possession off Rahman. Not quite. But Chelsea can’t settle here.
5 min: A simple clearance by Ivanovic is charged down by Verratti. Paris are press, press, pressing. Chelsea are all over the shop in the early exchanges. That won’t settle the makeshift centre back at all. The ball clanks out of play to the right. Chelsea only half clear, and Lucas is soon coming back at them. He drops a shoulder in a central position, takes a touch to the right, then lashes a riser towards the top left from 20 yards. That wasn’t far wide of the post, and I’m not 100 percent certain Courtois would have got across in time had it been on target.
3 min: Chelsea are rocking a little here. There’s space for Verratti down the inside-left. He takes a whack towards the bottom-right corner. Courtois is down well to parry, and Cahill hacks the loose ball clear, but these are worrying signs for the visitors. PSG have come flying out of the traps.
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2 min: Ibrahimovic, down by the left-hand corner flag, finds Lucas at the left-hand corner of the D with an impudent back flick. The move breaks down, but Chelsea are on the back foot early doors.
30 sec: Lucas picks up possession in the middle of the park and goes bowling down the inside-left channel at speed. He zips past Fabregas as though he wasn’t there. He enters the area, but Rahman steps across him and snuffs out some very early danger. A determined start by the hosts!
And we're off!
Pennants have been exchanged. Hands have been shaken. Coins have been tossed. And the knockout stage of the 2015-16 Champions League is underway! Chelsea get the ball rolling. The Parc de Princes is pumping.
The teams are out! That increasingly spirit-sapping anthem parps out of the PA speakers. Die Meister, die Besten, les grandes équipes, yada yada. Otherwise, though, what an atmosphere at the Parc des Princes! As the teams emerge from the tunnel, the referee plucks the official FINAL MILANO 2016 ball off its plinth. Paris Saint-German are in their famous blue shirts with red vertical band. Chelsea meanwhile sport a lovely, crisp, clean, white away kit. Say what you like about Chelsea, but more often than not - more often than most of the other big clubs, anyway - they get their shirts right by keeping things simple.
1988 European Cup winner Guus Hiddink speaks! “Everyone knows what Chelsea’s season has been like. We are trying to recover a bit in the Premier league, which is OK, but if we can go on in the Champions League it would be a huge achievement. We could mourn John Terry and Kurt Zouma, but we don’t do that, and we will shuffle our defence. It will be a very tactical game. PSG will try to impose themselves, but they will also drop back and they have a fast counter. So we will have to deal with that - and try to harm them too. We must not just sit back.”
The teams
Paris Saint-Germain: Trapp, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Luiz, Maxwell, Verratti, Thiago Motta, Matuidi, Di Maria, Ibrahimovic, Lucas Moura.
Subs: Sirigu, Stambouli, Cavani, Kurzawa, van der Wiel, Rabiot, Pastore.
Chelsea: Courtois, Ivanovic, Cahill, Baba, Azpilicueta, Fabregas, Mikel, Pedro, Willian, Costa, Hazard.
Subs: Begovic, Oscar, Traore, Kenedy, Remy, Miazga, Loftus-Cheek.
Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo (Madrid).
The hosts Paris Saint-German make six changes to the second-string XI sent out to draw with Lille on Saturday. (Bang went that 16-game winning run, but when you’re so far ahead in the league, who cares?) The goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, Marquinhos, David Luiz, Blaise Matuidi and Angel Di Maria are the only folk to keep their places. In come Thiago Silva, Maxwell, Marco Verratti, Thiago Motta, Lucas Moura and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Chelsea meanwhile make two changes to the team that thrashed Newcastle United on Saturday evening. The injured John Terry makes way for Baba Rahman; Branislav Ivanovic joins Gary Cahill in the centre of the defence. Meanwhile Nemanja Matic is replaced by John-Obi Mikel.
🎼 ♫ Die Meister! Die Besten! Les grandes équipes! The champions! ♪
It’s back! The European Cup is back! Because the knockout stages are more like it, aren’t they? All to play for, do or die, may the best team win. And good luck predicting the best team between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. This promises to be quite the rubber.
Paris Saint-Germain have been repeatedly fingered as the Team Most Likely To outside the established big three of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. In Zlatan Ibrahimovic, they boast one of the genuine big hitters in world football. The supporting cast ain’t half bad either: Thiago Silva, Thiago Motta, Maxwell, Angel Di Maria, Blaise Matudi, Ezequiel Lavezzi and David Luiz Lucas Moura. They’re 24 points clear of Ligue 1, recently embarked on a 16-game winning run in all competitions, are looking to make their third successive appearance in the Champions League quarters, and knocked tonight’s opponents out of last year’s edition.
But Chelsea have one or two decent players of their own. And after the early-season travails under Jose Mourinho, things are slowly coming together under caretaker boss Guus Hiddink. They’ve not lost a single game since he took temporary control in December, and are beginning to find their attacking groove once again, as Newcastle found to their cost on Saturday evening. They’re looking to reach their fourth quarter-final in six years, and their seventh in the last ten. And they always do pretty well in Europe under caretaker bosses, don’t they? Good old Roberto Di Matteo. Good old Rafa Benitez. Eh?
This is the third season in a row these lads have met in the Champions League. Chelsea were triumphant in 2014, PSG a year later. Now someone’s going to take the lead in this mini-series. The story begins again tonight. It’s on!
Kick off: 8.45pm local time in Paris, 7,45pm for those watching back in London.
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