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A pair of late goals saw Paris Saint-Germain pull off a shock comeback to beat Atalanta 2-1 at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on Wednesday night and advance to the semifinals of the Champions League.
Mario Pasalic‘s first-half goal for Atalanta was cancelled out by a late equaliser from Marquinhos before Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting popped up for a stoppage-time winner to end a dream run in the Champions League for the Serie A club.
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PSG missed a golden chance to open the scoring inside five minutes, but Neymar shot well wide of goal after doing well to break in behind the Atalanta defence.
High-flying Atalanta, who led Serie A with 98 goals in 38 league games this campaign, took the lead in the 26th minute when Pasalic curled a first-time shot in from the right side of the area that left Keylor Navas no chance.
Neymar continued to find space in the attacking third and came close to levelling shortly after the Pasalic goal, but he blazed a shot just outside of the post and then blasted another over the goal right before half-time as Atalanta took the lead into the beak.
PSG found chances harder to come by in the second half and Thomas Tuchel brought on Kylian Mbappe on the hour mark. The France international started on the bench as he’d just returned from an injury sustained in the French Cup final win on July 24.
Mbappe’s first chance came in the 73rd minute after he charged into the Atalanta area only to see his near-post effort kicked away by goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.
Sportiello kept two more dangerous-looking Mbappe efforts out right around the 80-minute mark as the Ligue 1 champions looked to find a way back on level terms.
Disaster struck as Atalanta tried to see out the game when Marquinhos poked home a mishit shot from Neymar and Choupo-Moting redirected Mbappe’s square ball past Sportiello to secure a famous win for PSG.
Choupo-Moting’s goal — the latest regulation game-winning goal in UCL quarterfinals history — sees PSG into the semifinals for the first time since 1994-95 after enduring last-8 exits in their previous four attempts.