Kylian Mbappé guided Paris Saint-Germain to the Champions League quarter finals on Tuesday. He scored both goals in a 2-1 victory against Real Sociedad, keeping alive the French club’s dream of winning the European title in Mbappé’s final season with the team.
PSG was 4-1 ahead on aggregate. Mbappé scored one goal in the first leg match at Paris three weeks ago when his team won the match 2-0. He has already declared that he is not going to stay with the club after this season.
Even with spending lots of money to win the Champions League, PSG hasn’t had much luck. They got knocked out in the last 16 five times in the past seven seasons, including the last two. They got to the semifinals in 2021 and were second place in 2020.
“We knew right away that we couldn’t go to sleep,” Mbappé said. “If they had opened the scoring, they would have pushed on with their fans’ backing. We had to dampen their hopes early on. That’s what we did, and we’re very happy to be back in the quarterfinals.”
Mbappé showed his skills once more on Tuesday, scoring a fantastic goal in the 15th minute. He made some clever moves near the touchline and then kicked the ball with his right foot into the far corner of the net. The shot was so powerful that it tore the net by the far post, causing a brief pause in the game while it could be repaired.
Mbappé scored his second goal in the 56th minute. He started running from near the midfield and quickly positioned himself in open space to collect a long pass by Lee Kang-in and calmly place the ball into the net from inside the area.
Mbappé didn’t score in the last two games he played for PSG, but in his last eight matches, he scored eight goals. Although he was substituted in the last two games, this time he played until the end of the match on Tuesday.
Mbappé, at 25 years and 76 days, became the second-youngest player to score 45 goals in the Champions League, from the group stage to the final. Lionel Messi, being the youngest, reached this milestone when he was 24 years and 257 days old. Currently, Mbappé has scored a total of 46 goals.
PSG had been doing well, winning 10 out of its last 13 games in all competitions. However, they recently had two draws in a row against Rennes and Monaco in the French league.
In the 89th minute, Mikel Merino scored Sociedad’s only goal, giving the home fans something to cheer about.
“We wanted to qualify, but we also wanted to win,” Mbappé said. “We had a game plan that was clear, and we managed to score early. We didn’t come under too much pressure, just a little at the end.”
In the other last 16 game on Wednesday, Bayern Munich moved forward with a 3-1 total score after winning 3-0 against Lazio at home.
Sociedad aimed to progress beyond the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time. The Basque Country club hadn’t competed in Europe’s top club tournament since 2013-14. Its most successful European run was in 1982-83 when it reached the semifinals of the European Cup.
Sociedad began the season on a high note, clinching its Champions League group victory for the first time. However, lately, the team has been struggling. They’ve faced six defeats in their last seven matches across all competitions and have managed just one win in their last nine games.
“All opponents are difficult in the Champions League, but unfortunately we were drawn with probably the toughest one that we could face,” Merino said. “We needed a perfect match to advance, but they are too good and have a player like Mbappé, who is almost sure to score with his transitions. They were better than us.”
The Spanish club had dominated PSG during most of the first half before conceding twice in the second half.
Ander Barrenetxea scored a goal for Sociedad in the 63rd minute but it was disallowed for offside.