The Paris St. Germain star Kylian Mbappe brace propels PSG into the Champions League quarterfinals.
Paris St. Germain’s Kylian Mbappe scored twice to lead it into the Champions League quarterfinals with a comfortable 2-1 win away to Real Sociedad in their last-16 second leg that sealed off a 4-1 aggregate victory on Tuesday.
Bidding to capture its first Champions League crown, a disciplined PSG made the most of its chances from counterattacks, with the lightning-fast Mbappe a constant concern.
After a fantastic group stage when it went unbeaten to finish ahead of last year’s finalists Inter Milan in Group D, La Liga side Real Sociedad, which is dealing with injuries and has won one of its past 10 matches in all competitions, ran out of steam.
Mbappe was enjoying a brilliant night, and his pace and agility were too much for the hosts’ defence to handle. He was practically unstoppable down the left channel, and Tuesday’s brace means he has scored 11 of PSG’s last 15 Champions League knockout goals.
“We knew right away that we couldn’t go to sleep. If they had opened the scoring, they would have pressed on with their fans’ backing,” Mbappe told Canal Plus. “We had to dampen their hopes early on. That’s what we did, and we’re really thrilled to be back in the quarterfinals.”
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Mbappe generated a handful of opportunities early on before scoring the opener with a stunning looping strike in the 15th minute.
After receiving a long pass from Ousmane Dembele, he sprinted into the box, darting in from the byline and feigning to shoot before moving the ball out of his foot again and generating just enough space to send a curling effort into the far corner.
The goal silenced a sold-out Reale Arena, who were obviously startled by the vision and talent of the France captain, who had a similar effort later blocked by keeper Alex Remiro.
But Mbappe scored again in the 56th minute as he grabbed a Lee Kang-in through ball in his stride before racing into the box and past the goalkeeper at his near post. PSG seemed satisfied to sit back against a docile Real Sociedad, who carried little threat for most of the game.
They sought to make a late surge, but were first denied by the post from a Martin Zubimendi effort and then by keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who made a superb reflex save to deny Benat Turrientes from close range.
Mikel Merino ultimately grabbed a consolation goal in the 89th minute with a deflected strike, but it was too little too late to prevent PSG from reaching the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in three years.
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