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Atalanta 1-2 PSG: Marquinhos and Choupo-Moting killed French champions to the semi-finals
An intellectual block absolutely damaged for Paris Saint-Germain, a shame for Atalanta. That’s the way to put it. The photographs said enough, because Atalanta couldn’t do enough. There’s no disgrace to that, but there’s a lot of pain and a lot of cruelty.
Three minutes of PSG perseverance turned this match into the Champions League. They are in the semi-finals for the first time since 1995, and the first time in this era of Qatar, after a remarkable change in the past to beat Atalanta 2-1.
It was another chaotic and entertaining focus to accompany so many participants to the festival in recent years. The PSG is surely extremely happy to have worried about crossing that collapse.
And yet, despite all the visual joy in this, it would have been nothing compared to the feelings Atalanta was about to feel. Mario Pasalic came close to making history at the club and positioning him in the champions league semi-finals. Your long-suffering city of Bergamo has suffered from coronavirus can only be proud. This small club has made it one of the most funded football projects on the planet.
And yet, for all the stars, the PSG has, for all the talent, for all the contrasts between the clubs, to take a look at what they nevertheless relied on. The tie was the most complicated of the efforts of the middle centre of Marquinhos. The winner was replacement Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
We’ll have to recognize the brilliance of Neymar and Kylian Mbappé in either. They intervened. This is even more vital given what he pressed on PSG.
This can be felt at the first big moment of the match, after only 3 minutes. Neymar has controlled it superbly to burn, only to make it atrocious and throw it overboard. It’s not just guilt, it’s also the gravity of guilt. This did not imply clarity of thought, which indicates Neymar’s erratic overall performance. The whole bench, plus Kylian Mbappé, had his hands on his head. It’s like they know more than missing early.
Atalanta Building. Something’s going on. And it’s something very special. In the 27th minute, Duvan Zapata left the area at the edge of the area to steer the ball towards Palasic, who made a curl beyond Navas and the most sensitive corner. The flight of the ball reflected the sensations around the club.
For Atalanta, sleep is no longer anything they imagined. It’s happening. For the PSG, the nightmare is no longer anything they feared. It’s happening. This contrast and those problems have further electrified the game.
The PSG was hesitant and nervous. They fought hard against Atalanta’s pressure scale, but also made unforced errors. This has never been more evident than when Marquinhos almost spinning the ball with 10 yards around him, or when Neymar opened his moment of great opportunity.
Thomas Tuchel’s wonderful frustration, and the contradiction, was that his tactical technique probably worked. The PSG created many opportunities through the pressure of Atalanta opposite them and simply throwing balls over them. The collective technique was simply disappointed by individual errors, either by stripping or by termination. It was yet to be tested. Neymar personified the problem. He did a lot of things brilliantly.
If the PSG wasn’t at its best, of course, it means that the game has temporarily reached this kind of epic level where each touch proves that players are fully aware of what’s at stake. There this anguish in each and every thing that PSG did, that challenge to each and every one of the things Atalanta tries.
Tuchel, naturally, called Mbappé as soon as the advice advised him, part of an hour from the end. The French star has begun drilling holes in the Atalanta’s bottom line. The time has come in spite of everything. Neymar showed his elegance and control, Marquinhos forced him to move home. Atalanta was still broken. Soon the hearts broke, as Choupo-Moting scored.
PSG, despite everything, knows how it feels and, despite everything, will know what it’s like to play the semi-finals.
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