Kylian Mbappe said he was confident Paris St Germain could advance into the quarter-finals of the Champions League despite losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the first leg of their last-16 clash on Tuesday. France forward came on as a substitute in the 57th minute and ignited the game, having two goals disallowed for offside as his entrance changed the storyline of the match.
“We have to remember the final part of the game; we’re behind but we saw that we were able to cause them trouble. We need all our players to be healthy and go there to win and qualify,” said Mbappe, who was back after a two-week injury layoff.
Mbappe’s return to fitness is PSG’s best hope looking ahead to the March 8 second leg at the Allianz Arena.
“I was not supposed to play but I wanted to help my mates, bring some energy. We tried everything. Today I couldn’t do more,” he said.
Mbappe believes that if PSG are at full strength they can turn things around in Munich. It’s important that all our players are healthy, that everyone eats well, sleeps well,” he said.
“We saw that when we are all together we are able to play forward, to play attacking football and that they were not comfortable. Coach Christophe Galtier will also hope that Achraf Hakimi will be back on the right flank of the defence after he was replaced because of injury at halftime.
“I was counting on him but it quickly became evident that he could not play the whole game,” said Galtier. We took a risk with him but he quickly suffered from muscle pains.” Galtier has hopes that the story will be different in three weeks in Munich. It’s another game. Tonight, nobody is out, nobody is through. I have a lot of hope. I hope we will have a lot of fresh players and that we will be able to play the way we played the last 20-25 minutes.
AC Milan took a step towards their first Champions League quarter-final appearance for 11 years as Brahim Diaz’s goal gave the Italians a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in their last-16 first leg at the San Siro on Tuesday.
The Spaniard headed in a rebound in the seventh minute after a superb double save by Tottenham’s second-choice keeper Fraser Forster and the seven-time winners kept the Londoners at bay.
Spurs, weakened by injuries and suspensions, responded positively in the first half to dominate possession but were unable to seriously worry the hosts. Milan should then have increased their advantage after the break with substitutes Charles De Ketelaere and Junior Messias both wasting glorious headed chances.
Tottenham sent on Brazil forward Richarlison for the last 20 minutes and, while they were unable to avoid a first-ever defeat by Milan, they will head home still hopeful of turning the tie around and reaching the last eight
Source: SABC
In other news – VIDEO: AKA’s mom, Lynn Forbes and Nadia Nakai comforts each other
The Forbes family hosted a press conference on Tuesday at Rockets in Bryanston in honor of the late rapper Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, AKA.
Video clips of the event went viral on social media with people sharing their thoughts about it. Learn more
