Substitute Angel Correa scored a dramatic winner with the last kick of the game as Atletico Madrid snatched a 2-1 victory away to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, kickstarting their Champions League campaign and casting a large cloud over the French club’s European hopes.
It looked as if the game at the Parc des Princes would end in a draw after Warren Zaire-Emery’s early opener for PSG was quickly cancelled out by Nahuel Molina in the first ever meeting of the clubs.
PSG have been let down by their finishing in the Champions League all season and that was the case again here as they failed to convert a host of chances, but Atletico did not look like winning it until Correa struck in the 93rd minute.
The Spaniards would have been the happier of the two teams with a draw, especially as goalkeeper Jan Oblak had been forced into several second-half saves.
Having lost back-to-back matches against Benfica and then Lille, the win puts Atletico back on track to at least make the play-off round of this new-look Champions League, with the league phase now at the halfway stage.
“Today PSG played better but we had the extra force that we lacked against Lille,” said Atletico coach Diego Simeone. “We came here missing five players, we conceded a goal early on, but the team did not collapse.”
The evening was also notable for the pre-match unfurling by PSG fans at one end of the stadium of an enormous banner in support of Palestinians in Gaza. “War on the pitch but peace in the world,” said the banner, which also featured a Lebanese flag. That may lead to disciplinary action from UEFA, but that will probably be the least of PSG’s worries now.
