Eight days after their 2-1 victory in Munich, the women of Paris-Saint-Germain qualified in pain for the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday March 30, with a draw, 2-2, obtained after extra time against the Bayern players, in a noisy and well-stocked Parc des Princes.
The partners of captain Grace Geyoro, already qualified in the final of the Coupe de France and current second in the championship, thus reach the last four of the competition and will try to get closer to a first title so much sought after by PSG in the Champions League, women and men alike.
In the semi-finals, an enticing duel against rivals Lyon could arise. The draw made this hypothesis feasible, but the Fenottes, seven times titled in the competition, must however overthrow Juventus, Thursday in Lyon, after being surprised in Turin (2-1 defeat) in the first leg.
Whatever happens, PSG will have to do much better than the fairly average copy, even frankly messy in sequences, returned Wednesday in a Parc des Princes, where 27,262 supporters were counted, a record attendance for the women’s section, far from the previous mark (19,192 people in April 2017 against FC Barcelona in the semi-final return).
A denouement à la 112and minute
The party could however have been spoiled by a Bayern team who came with as much determination as absentees, decimated by injuries, the suspension of Viviane Asseyi and several cases of Covid-19. Faced with this slaughter, the coach, Jens Scheuer, had only two outfield players available among his substitutes.
Facing the Bavarians, twice semi-finalists over the last three seasons, PSG opened the scoring against the course of play on an inspiration from Sandy Baltimore, completely out of the way, but able to lob the goalkeeper with a ball brushed in a bell (17and1-0).
Bayern did not disassemble however, equalizing in stride by ex-Lyonnaise Saki Kumagai, on the lookout for a ball repelled by goalkeeper Barbora Votikova (19and, 1-1). And the worst-case scenario took on even more substance when Klara Bühl, already a scorer in the first leg, deceived the Czech goalkeeper thanks to a shot deflected by her partner Léa Schüller (54and1-2).
It was finally from the Paris bench that the liberation came. The Swiss Bachmann, very active after replacing Kheira Hamraoui at the start of extra time, caused panic in the German defense before shaking the net with a cross shot from the right at 112and minute.
