LONDON – Bayern Munich have reached the Champions League quarter-finals for a fourth straight season after another of Paris Saint-Germain’s former players scored against them to leave their European dream as distant as ever.
Ex-PSG forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting struck on the hour after a mistake by Marco Verratti, and Serge Gnabry netted late on to give hosts Bayern a 2-0 win (3-0 on aggregate).
Kingsley Coman – another former PSG player – had netted the winner in the first leg in Paris as well as in the 2020 final between the same two sides.
“It is natural that when you win the first leg 1-0 you are going to sit back a bit, but they have brutal quality,” Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann told DAZN.
“In the second half we were far better than our opponents and deserved to win.”
Despite the billions put into the club by their Qatari owners since 2011, the French champions – for whom Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe both missed good chances – failed once again to come close to a prize they have never won.
Whether the limp exit plays a role in Messi’s decision to leave or stay remains to be seen, but for now Bundesliga leaders Bayern march on in the Champions League in pursuit of a seventh triumph.
“We didn’t open the scoring when we had the chance,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier told Canal Plus.
“We did well in the first half. We felt we could match our opponents but we didn’t put away our chances and we conceded a really stupid first goal at this level.”
In London, AC Milan drew 0-0 with Tottenham Hotspur to go through 1-0 on aggregate in a game that had its kick-off delayed by 10 minutes after both teams were caught in heavy London traffic.
Brahim Diaz and Olivier Giroud had good chances for the seven-times winners, who deserved to progress and were helped by Spurs defender Cristian Romero receiving a second booking on 77 minutes.
“That is the third game in a row that we were not able to score,” Spurs boss Antonio Conte told broadcaster BT Sport.
“We can do much better offensively but I can’t say anything negative about the commitment of the players. They gave everything.”
On Tuesday, Chelsea eliminated Borussia Dortmund and Benfica embarrassed Club Brugge to progress to the last-eight.
The rest of the last-16 second legs, including holders Real Madrid against Liverpool, take place next week.
