Valencia 1 Paris St Germain 2:Adil Rami popped up with a crucial stoppage-time strike to hand Valencia a lifeline in their Champions League last-16 tie against Paris St Germain at the Mestalla last night.
PSG looked on course for a dream result as first-half goals by Argentinian duo Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore put Carlo Ancelotti’s men firmly in the driving seat, but their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals suffered a setback in the space of two wild minutes at the end of the contest.
First Rami stole in behind the defence to reduce the arrears for Los Che before PSG’s talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off for aiming a stamp at Andres Guardado.
The red card means Ibrahimovic is suspended for the return leg along with defensive midfielder Marco Verratti, who picked up his third booking of the campaign.
PSG’s late implosion took the shine off an otherwise impressive performance by Ancelotti’s troops.
Certainly the watching David Beckham, who recently joined PSG on a five-month deal but was not in the squad today due to a lack of match fitness, will have been encouraged by what he saw.
However, that Lucas Moura played such an influential role for the Parisians will not have been lost on the 37-year-old, with the Brazilian’s pace and trickery down the right channel not something the set-piece maestro can realistically expect to replicate.
Took the lead
PSG they took the lead in the 10th minute with Lavezzi started and finishing the move, exchanging passes with Pastore on the edge of the area and advancing beyond the lunging challenge of Ricardo Costa before crashing a powerful finish beyond Vicente Guaita.
Their second goal arrived two minutes before the break and again Guaita failed to impress. Lucas beat two men on the byline before running into the area and pulling the ball back for Pastore, whose first-time finish went through the legs of Guaita.
Valencia coach Ernesto Valverde shuffled his back at the interval, with striker Nelson Valdez and attacking midfielder Sergio Canales on for Ever Banega and Jonas.
On 72 minutes PSG were denied a third when substitute Clement Chantome turned the ball home after a good move following a free-kick, the midfielder ruled to have been coming back from an offside position.
Costa’s powerful free-kick drew a good parry from Salvatore Sirigu in the 87th minute, but the goalkeeper was culpable for Valencia’s late reply.
Costa created the chance with a chipped free-kick over the top of the defence, although as the ball floated into the six-yard box the goalkeeper should have come to claim.
Instead, Rami was unchallenged as he cleverly steered the ball into the net.
And with almost the very last action of the night PSG’s efforts were further diluted when Ibrahimovic allowed himself to become riled as he challenged with two Valencia players and went over the ball in a challenge with Guardado, and was sent off.
