Bayern Munich managed to beat Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at their home while AC Milan earned a narrow win over Tottenham as the Champions League’s round of 16 finally kicked off.
Bayern Munich vs PSG:
Kingsley Coman scored the only goal of the game as the Germans landed the first blow against their opponents in their heavyweight tie in France.
The visitors dominated the majority of the game but were lucky to escape with a win after Kylian Mbappe, returning from injury, had two goals chalked off for offside.
With two losses on the trot, PSG needed to step up against a challenging opposition but failed to hit the ground running. Bayern imposed their will on the match from the very first whistle but failed to find a breakthrough in the first half.
Their fortunes changed in the 53rd minute when Coman volleyed in the game’s only goal past Gianluigi Donnarumma who failed to stop a relatively tame shot. The Italian later redeemed himself by keeping out goal-bound efforts from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Matthijs de Ligt.
Christophe Galtier turned to Mbappe to rescue a draw and it almost paid off.
First, he was denied by Yann Sommer as he ran through on goal before he was ruled to be offside after putting a rebound from Neymar’s follow-up into the net. He also put away a cutback from Nuno Mendes eight minutes from full-time before a VAR check found Mendes was offside by the smallest of margins in the buildup.
PSG will look to neutralise the one-goal deficit when they meet again on March 9th.
AC Milan vs Tottenham:
Brahim Diaz’s 7th-minute goal was enough to give AC Milan a 1-0 advantage over a short-handed Tottenham side at the San Siro.
Milan could have increased their advantage after the break but substitutes Charles De Ketelaere and defender Malick Thiaw both wasted their headed chances to keep the contest alive.
The two teams will play the reverse fixture in London on March 9th.
