Lisbon: Substitute Eric Choupo-Moting scored a stoppage-time winner as Paris St Germain scored two late goals to beat outsiders Atalanta 2-1 and end the Serie A side’s Champions League dream in their quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Atalanta, who were playing in the Champions League for the first time went ahead with a brilliant curler from Mario Pasalic in the 27th minute and held out until the 90th when Brazilian defender Marquinhos equalised for the French champions.
With Atalanta wilting, Choupo-Moting turned the ball home in the third minute of added time to end Qatari-backed PSG’s embarrassing run of recent quarterfinal and round of 16 exits and send them into the last four for the first time since 1995. The Ligue 1 side will face either Atletico Madrid or RB Leipzig, who meet on Thursday, in their semifinal.
The hero of the evening, the unique, the charismatic, the legendary 𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗠𝗔𝗫𝗜𝗠𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗣𝗢 – 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 💉 pic.twitter.com/xYCZNvYSBh
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) August 13, 2020
“When I came on, I thought to myself, ‘We can’t lose, we can’t go home like that.’ I was confident in myself, confident in the team and then the rest is the history of Paris,” said Cameroon international Choupo-Moting. “It was a crazy game, a tough game and opponents.”
Meanwhile, there were reports that Neymar and Kylian Mbappe might move out of PSG in the upcoming season. Quashing all rumours PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said, “Neymar and Kylian are among the best players in the world.”
“Neymar was the man of the match; he had a great game. We found Neymar; he made a big difference in the team. I felt something special. We want them to extend (their contracts), yes of course. We are never going to sell them, they will stay, I’m sure,” he said after the match.
