Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain took a huge step towards the quarter finals on Wednesday evening with a convincing victory over English side Chelsea at the Parc des Princes.
Substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia proved the decisive factor, coming off the bench in the second half with the score at 2-2 and providing a goal plus two assists. However, the Portuguese contingent on the pitch across both teams also shone on what was a fantastic evening of football in the French capital.
The hosts started strongly and were ahead inside ten minutes through Bradley Barcola. Ousmane Dembele’s cross from the right was brilliantly cushioned down by João Neves with his head to find Barcola, who struck a vicious shot which flew into the top corner. With the assist Neves, who was excellent on the night, recorded his first goal involvement of 2026.
Chelsea responded well, which made for a thrilling encounter. The Blues’ equaliser perhaps exposed a lapse in positioning by Nuno Mendes, who either by decision or instruction vacated his left-back slot to cover inside, leaving Chelsea right-back Malo Gusto in far too much space after a switch to level things up at 1-1 on 28 minutes.
Neto shines, Vitinha class makes the difference
Désiré Doué put PSG back in front before the break, but Chelsea’s second equaliser demonstrated the very best of Pedro Neto. The former Braga man escaped the attention of PSG defenders on the left side to drive forward, before cutting the ball back for ex-Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez to convert (57’) and make it 2-2.
Chelsea looked strong in the second period, but a poor mistake by goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen helped turn the match back in PSG’s favour 15 minutes after Fernandez’s goal. The Dane’s slack pass was intercepted by Barcola and Kvaratskhelia found Vitinha, who showed incredible composure to carefully lob the ball over Jörgensen to put PSG 3-2 up.
Kvaratskhelia then took centre stage, scoring twice in the closing stages to give the reigning European champions a commanding lead to take to Stamford Bridge. The Georgian’s first was inspired, cutting in from the right and letting fly with an unstoppable strike across Jörgensen, before turning home Achraf Hakimi’s cross from close range in the dying seconds.
This week’s Champions League ties have seen some emphatic statements of intent from major clubs. With Real Madrid beating Manchester City 3-0 in Spain and Bayern Munich crushing Atalanta 6-1 away from home, PSG and their Portuguese contingent of Mendes, Neves, Vitinha and Gonçalo Ramos have laid down their own marker ahead of the latter stages.
Source: Onefootball.com
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