📸 Two reds & nine goals: PSG and Leverkusen go wild | OneFootball

First, feel things out and don’t rush into anything. But Paris Saint-Germain and Bayer Leverkusen clearly weren’t in the mood for that today. There was enough action in the first half alone to fill three whole matches.

Let’s go through it: PSG took an early lead through William Pacho (7’). Then Alejandro Grimaldo missed a handball penalty (25’). But from that point on, the game really picked up speed.

Because just six minutes later, Robert Andrich was caught by VAR for violent conduct. The German international had thrown an elbow during an aerial challenge.

📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors

Only seven minutes after that, the next goal was scored. But not for the French side, who now had a man advantage—instead, it was for the Werkself. Aleix Garcia converted Leverkusen’s second penalty of the evening, after Illya Zabarnyi had been sent off for a professional foul.

But the equalizer only lasted three minutes, because Desiré Doué finished off a counterattack almost immediately in response. Now in a goal frenzy, the reigning CL champions added two more before the break through Khvicha Kvaratskelia (44’) and Doué again (45’). At halftime, everyone involved probably needed a calming tea.

UPDATE: Apparently, that tea wasn’t drunk. Because in the 50th minute, Nuno Mendes scored the sixth goal of the evening. Goal number seven followed right after. Aleix Garcia blasted the ball into the top corner (54’). Even after that, the goal festival continued. Ousmane Dembelé got on the scoresheet to make it 6-2 from Paris’s perspective. Shortly before the final whistle, Vitinha scored his goal to bring an end to a balanced duel.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors