Paris Saint-Germain will take a 2-1 lead into the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie against Valencia, but a dramatic late turn of events handed the Spanish side a lifeline.
Going into the 90th minute at the Estadio Mestalla on Tuesday, the French league leaders appeared in cruise control thanks to first-half goals from Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore, but France international centerback Adil Rami found the net in the final minute to keep Valencia in the tie, before PSG had Zlatan Ibrahimovic controversially sent off for a studs-up challenge on Andres Guardado.
The Swede, who has been criticized in the past for failing to produce his very best in the Champions League knockout stages, will miss the return leg at the Parc des Princes next month, but at least PSG will have a lead to defend in that game.
Photo: AFP
“Ibrahimovic did not deserve the red card. I don’t understand the decision,” an unhappy PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti told French Canal Plus television at fulltime.
Despite the ending, for much of the evening it was a classic away European performance from Ancelotti’s side, who ceded possession to their hosts, but were always a threat on the counterattack.
Valencia coach Ernesto Valverde said: “They were very strong. Every counterattack they had was very dangerous.”
Photo: Reuters
“We managed to get a late goal, which means we still have a chance, but we must take into account the fact they have some extraordinary players,” Valverde said.
History suggested that it would be a major test for PSG, who were playing a knockout tie in Europe’s top club competition for the first time since 1995.
Since then, Valencia had reached two Champions League finals and had never been beaten by French opposition at the Mestalla, but PSG, backed by massive investment from their Qatari owners, are emerging as a major continental force and they traveled to Spain with their confidence buoyed by a run of 12 matches unbeaten in all competitions.
Valencia have considerably improved since Valverde took over two months ago and they had held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw in their last home outing, but they got off to a nightmare start, with the lively Lucas Moura crashing a shot from long range off the post as a prelude to the visitors’ opening goal.
Lavezzi has been outstanding during PSG’s superb recent run and it was no great surprise to see the Argentine break the deadlock when he played a lovely one-two with Pastore, before sending in a shot that Vicente Guaita in the hosts’ goal really should have kept out.
PSG allowed Valencia to dominate possession after that, but they were always a menace on the break, especially down the hosts’ left, where the attack-minded Guardado had been forced to fill in with Aly Cissokho and Jeremy Mathieu both injured.
Valencia fell further behind when Lucas turned the unfortunate Guardado inside-out on the right flank, before picking out Pastore, whose first-time shot was too good for Guaita.
Valverde made a double change at halftime, with Sergio Canales and Nelson Valdez replacing Ever Banega and Jonas, but the pattern of the game remained much the same.
The Spanish side had plenty of the ball, but PSG came closest to scoring again, with Lavezzi squandering a glorious chance after being picked out by a brilliant Marco Verratti pass.
Ibrahimovic almost netted a classy third goal after a one-two with substitute Clement Chantome, who then saw his followup disallowed for offside.
However, Valencia finally found a route back into the contest when Rami appeared unmarked in the area to head home a trademark dead-ball delivery from Tino Costa, before Ibrahimovic was given his marching orders.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but