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Bayern Munich held serve at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to send Kylian Mbappe and Paris Saint-Germain out of the Champions League at the round of 16.
A second-half goal from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and a late strike from Serge Gnabry secured a 2-0 second-leg win for Julian Naglesmann’s side to put Bayern into the quarterfinals off the back of a 3-0 aggregate victory over the Ligue 1 leaders.
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“In the first half, we didn’t do what we had talked about before very well,” Nagelsmann said. “There was too much space. “But we defended better in the second half and were dangerous on the ball. In the end, we deserved to win.
“If we show maximum hunger with emotion and we couple that with our quality then we can achieve anything.”
PSG came into the match trailing 1-0 on aggregate from the first leg and without the services of Neymar, who was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Tuesday after it was revealed he needed surgery for an ankle injury sustained against Lille on Feb. 19.
Both sides had chances in the opening 45 minutes, with Lionel Messi having two shots blocked from close range before the half-hour and Gianluigi Donnarumma doing well to go low and to his right to save Jamal Musiala‘s well-hit shot shortly after.
Matthijs de Ligt made the save of the first half for the hosts shortly before the break, though, sliding across the goal line to clear away Vitinha‘s roller into an open net after Yann Sommer had his pocket picked playing out from the back.
The spectacular play by the Netherlands international preserved Bayern’s narrow aggregate lead as the teams walked off for the half-time break level in the second leg.
Choupo-Moting had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second half, but there was no doubt about his winner just past the hour mark as Marco Verratti was dispossessed in his own area and Leon Goretzka squared to his Bayern teammate to tap it past Donnarumma.
Sommer preserved his clean sheet with a pair of good saves late in the second half, one from a Sergio Ramos header and another from a close-range shot by Mbappe, who was kept relatively quiet all night by a well-organized Bayern defence.
“We did not manage to score when we were on top of things,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier said. “Then we concede a ridiculous goal. What made the difference is the fact we missed some key players in both legs. It’s a big disappointment but we have to swallow it.”
Substitute Gnabry added the second of the night for Bayern on a ruthless counter-attack, picking up a through ball from Joao Cancelo and smashing his effort past Donnarumma to reach the final scoreline.
PSG have now been eliminated from the Champions League in five of their last seven appearances, while Bayern extended their home unbeaten streak to 24 matches, while advancing to the quarterfinals for the 11th time in their last 12 chances in Europe’s premier club competition.
Bayern will now await the results of the Champions League draw on March 17 to see who they will face in the quarterfinals.