Bayern Munich was defeated by Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal matchup. The 3-2 loss puts Die Roten in a difficult position heading into the second leg in Paris. Here are three key stats from the first leg.
Mbappe gets it done again
Kylian Mbappe showed up in another big Champions League match for PSG. The talented forward scored a brace to lead the way for the away side against Rekordmeister. He only had two shots in the match but he took advantage of both opportunities After scoring a hat-trick against Barcelona in the Round of 16 first leg, he got the job done once more for the French club. If PSG advance to the semifinals, then Mbappe will be a key reason why they progress.
The home side struggled to contain Mbappe multiple times during the match. He found the space and time needed to be effective. Mbappe showed he doesn’t need many opportunities to make a difference and that should be a concern for Die Roten entering the second leg. If he is allowed to operate the same way in the second leg then it’s difficult to see Die Roten being able to overcome the deficit.
Missed opportunities for Bayern
When it came to finishing, the German Champions were not at their best. The absence of Robert Lewandowski was on display in this match. Incredibly, only two of the 12 attempts that were on target found the back of the net.
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PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas does deserve credit here as well but it just wasn’t Bayern’s night when it came to finishing chances. If Lewandowski had been involved in this match one has to wonder if there would have been more goals for the home side.
It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom for Die Roten due to their low conversion rate. There’s no question they were able to generate more scoring opportunities than PSG. As a result, if Rekordmeister can find a way to turn more of these chances into goals in the second leg then they will have a real chance of defeating PSG.
Crosses galore
Bayern recorded a season-high number of crosses in this match. A total of 44 crosses were made which was five more than the 39 they registered against Holstein Kiel in the DFB-Pokal. Unsurprisingly, both of Bayern’s goals were scored from crosses into the penalty area.
It will be interesting to see if Bayern registers a similar number of crosses in the second leg. They were able to generate a high number of scoring chances from crosses and PSG could be in trouble if these crosses result in more goals in the second leg.