Appearing in their first UEFA Champions League knockout tie for 20 years, Real Sociedad would be pitted against a high-flying Paris Saint-Germain side that haven’t lost a match since November 7.
PSG: Donnarumma; Beraldo, Pereira, Marquinhos, Hakimi; Vitinha, Ruiz, Zaïre-Emery; Barcola, Mbappé, Dembélé
RSO: Remiro; Galán, Le Normand, Zubeldia, Traore; Merino, Zubimendi, Mendez; Barrenetxea, Silva, Kubo
The injury-enforced absence of captain Mikel Oyarzabal would certainly come as a blow for Imanol Aguacil’s Real Sociedad – but the Basque side did well to limit Paris Saint-Germain to just a handful of chances in the French capital on Wednesday.
The visitors arguably had the best chance of the first half, as Mikel Merino struck the crossbar just before the interval.
Having missed PSG’s last match due to an ankle injury, it took until just before the hour mark for Kylian Mbappé to open the scoring, slamming home at the back post after a corner to bring an end to the hosts’ frustrations.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe French international forced a fine save from Alex Remiro soon after, with the goalkeeper tipping his effort onto the crossbar – but the Parisiens would still double their tally for the evening as Bradley Barcola slotted a lovely finish past the shotstopper.
Real Sociedad have every chance of progressing to the next round though, if they can muster a stronger attacking performance than they displayed in Paris on Wednesday. The second leg takes place on March 5.
