A bitter night in the Parc des Princes
Ousmane Dembélé had one of those games that a forward wants to quickly erase from memory. The current Ballon d’Or winner missed a penalty in the first minutes and then missed an incredible opportunity from inside the area. His Paris Saint-Germain could only draw 1-1 against Newcastle.
That result hurts, a lot. It means that both teams are left out of the top eight of the general classification. There is no direct ticket to the round of 16. Now it’s time to risk your life in a double-leg repechage tie.
The nightmare began soon. Barely a minute had passed when referee Slavko Vincic, after reviewing the video, pointed to the penalty spot.
The ball hit Barcola’s arm after a tackle and then flew into Lewis Miley’s arm.
Dembélé took responsibility. He aimed for the bottom right corner but Nick Pope, the England goalkeeper, was brilliant to stop him.
The goal would come minutes later from the other side, with a precise shot by Vitinha. But Dembélé did not find his aim. At 40 minutes, with the entire goal at his mercy from ten meters, he launched the ball over the crossbar after a perfect cross.
Joe Willock equalized for the English before the break. And although Harvey Barnes was able to turn the score around in the end, the damage had already been done.
The moral of the day is clear: in the Champions League you don’t forgive these occasions. PSG and Dembélé paid dearly for their mistakes, and now their path in Europe is much more complicated.
