The PSG vs Chelsea Champions League first leg soccer match is set for Wednesday, April 2.
UPDATE: PSG beat Chelsea 3-1.
The second leg is scheduled for April 8, 7:45 p.m. GMT (2:45 p.m. ET), at Stamford Bridge.
Here are two AP articles of the match.
PARIS— Paris Saint-Germain took advantage of sloppy defending to beat Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Wednesday, with substitute Javier Pastore capping the win with a brilliant goal in stoppage time.
Chelsea did well to contain Zlatan Ibrahimovic, PSG’s top scorer with more than 40 goals this season. But Jose Mourinho’s team was undone by lapses from captain John Terry and midfielder David Luiz, who gave the ball away leading up to the opening goal.
That came after only four minutes when Ezequiel Lavezzi twisted to sweep the ball home after Terry’s poor headed clearance. Eden Hazard equalized from the penalty spot midway through the first half, only for PSG to take the lead again in the 61st as Luiz shinned the ball into his own net.
Pastore’s injury-time goal was superb. But Chelsea should have stopped him as the Argentina playmaker gathered the ball on the right wing, cut inside and then jinked his way through the penalty area before planting a low shot inside goalkeeper Petr Cech’s near post.
There was some bad news on the night for PSG, however, with Ibrahimovic limping off midway through the second half with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
In Wednesday’s other quarterfinal first leg, Real Madrid beat last season’s finalist Borussia Dortmund 3-0 in Spain.
PSG started aggressively and scored when Terry failed to deal properly with Blaise Matuidi’s cross and his header fell to Lavezzi some 15 meters out. The Argentina winger swiveled brilliantly before planting the ball into the top left corner for his 10th goal of the season.
Chelsea enjoyed a brief spell of possession afterward, earning two corners. But it struggled to deal with PSG’s speed on the break, and midfielder Ramires was shown a yellow card after hacking down Lavezzi as he turned away from him near the halfway line. Ramires misses the return leg next week.
PSG continued to look for Lavezzi on the break, and he caused center half Gary Cahill constant problems with his pace. Midway through the half, Lavezzi got away from him down the left but his shot hit the side of the net.
Chelsea equalized against the run of play in the 27th minute when Brazil center half Thiago Silva lunged in a fraction too late and clipped midfielder Oscar’s leg. It was surprisingly rash judgment from Silva, the Brazil captain, who is considered one of the best defenders in the world.
With the jeers from the Parc des Princes crowd ringing in his ears, Hazard showed no nerves as he caressed the ball into the bottom left corner with Salvatore Sirigu guessing the wrong way.
Lavezzi had another effort saved by Cech, but the home side nearly fell behind in the 40th minute when Hazard’s brilliantly controlled volley from wide left hit the right post with Sirigu beaten.
PSG’s fans were livid when Edinson Cavani’s claims for a penalty moments before the interval were turned down — with the Uruguay forward falling to the floor after tangling with Cahill.
Lavezzi outshone Ibrahimovic as PSG’s liveliest player and headed a curling cross from Matuidi just over in the 52nd. His looping free kick soon afterward caused panic in the Chelsea defense and Luiz clumsily knocked the ball over the line.
Shortly after Luiz’s own goal, Silva atoned for his earlier error by making a brilliant interception as Hazard tried to slip the ball through to substitute Fernando Torres.
Off the pitch, there was trouble before the game with PSG and Chelsea supporters fighting in a city center street about two hours before kickoff.
The fighting involved around 100 people from each side, indicating that it was most likely prearranged, PSG’s security director Jean-Philippe d'Halliville told The Associated Press by telephone.
Trouble also marred PSG’s previous home match against Bayer Leverkusen last month.
……………………………………………………………………………………
200 Fans Clash Before PSG-Chelsea Match
PARIS— About 200 supporters of Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea fought in a city center street prior to their teams’ Champions League quarterfinal match on Wednesday.
PSG’s director of security Jean-Philippe d'Halliville told The Associated Press by telephone that some 100 fans from each side — including former members of PSG’s notorious and now disbanded Kop of Boulogne hooligan group — fought for up to three minutes before riot police intervened.
He did not give further details on whether there were any arrests or injuries.
Despite tight security around the Gare du Nord train station and another known hangout for PSG troublemakers, the violence broke out on Rue Saint-Denis, near to the popular Chatelet area about two hours before the game.
Trouble marred PSG’s previous home match against Bayer Leverkusen last month.
PSG and Chelsea fans also fought last time the teams played in the competition 10 years ago.
On Wednesday evening, shards of broken glass and debris littered the Rue Saint-Denis street, where several hundred Chelsea fans had been drinking in and around bars for hours.
The fighting was most likely prearranged, d'Halliville said, as it was against Leverkusen, when 40 from each side met outside Odeon metro station in the city’s historic center. Eleven people were arrested after those fights broke out.
PSG has tried hard to eradicate a long-standing hooligan problem. Two PSG supporters died in separate incidents outside Parc des Princes stadium in 2006 and 2010.
PSG’s group match at Anderlecht earlier this season was considered high-risk and around 150 known PSG hooligans were rounded up by police before that game in Brussels.
In the same area of Paris in December, 2008 PSG and FC Twente fans fought a pitched battle in a side-street close to the landmark St. Michel fountain before their UEFA Cup match, as Christmas shoppers scattered for cover. Hundreds continued their scrapping outside the stadium later that night.
There were violent clashes between PSG and Dinamo Zagreb fans in the Bastille area of Paris the night before PSG’s home game last season, despite the French Interior Ministry issuing a decree banning Zagreb fans from attending the match amid fears of trouble. PSG had not provided club travel for its supporters in Zagreb two weeks prior to that after consulting with UEFA.
Last season’s league title celebrations turned into a fiasco as fights between fans and riot police left more than 30 people injured and led to several arrests.
PSG had serious problems with hooliganism from 1985 to 2010, as two ends of Parc des Princes — the Kop Boulogne and Tribune Auteuil — were violently opposed. The club then took measures to tackle the issue.
Friends Read Free