Results – Champions League Knockout Round Play-offs
- Brest 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain
- Juventus 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
- Sporting CP 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
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OUSMANE DEMBELE KEPT up his remarkable form in front of goal with a double as Paris Saint-Germain took a big step towards qualifying for the last 16 with a 3-0 win over French rivals Brest in the first leg of their play-off tie.
PSG were overwhelming favourites coming into this tie against opponents who had never taken part in European competition before this season, and there seems little prospect of Brest recovering from this loss in next week’s second leg.
Vitinha opened the scoring for PSG at the Stade de Roudourou in Guingamp with a penalty just before the midway point in the first half, and Dembele swept in a second on the stroke of half-time before netting again on 66 minutes.
The French international forward now has 23 goals for the season, including 18 in 11 appearances over the last two months.
Indeed he has 10 goals in just the last four games, a run which includes a hat-trick against Brest in Ligue 1 only 10 days ago.
PSG were handed the chance to go ahead when a Dembele shot struck the arm of Pierre Lees-Melou inside the Brest box in the 17th minute.
The Bosnian referee had to come across to check the pitchside monitor before pointing to the spot, and Vitinha then stepped up to send goalkeeper Marco Bizot the wrong way with the penalty.
Paris struck again just before the break, majestically playing their way out of Brest’s press and breaking away. Hakimi fed Dembele, who cut in from the right and beat the goalkeeper at his near post.
Dembele did then strike again almost midway through the second half, trying to feed Bradley Barcola and then seeing the ball break back to him before shooting past Bizot with the aid of a deflection.
Samuel Mbangula boosted Juventus’ chances of reaching the last 16 by netting the late winner in Tuesday’s 2-1 success over PSV Eindhoven in Turin.
Winger Mbangula forced home the decisive goal eight minutes from the end at the Allianz Stadium to give Juve a lead to take to next week’s second leg of their play-off tie with PSV.
The 21-year-old saved Juve from being stung by Ivan Perisic, who was a fan favourite at the Turin giants’ fiercest rivals Inter Milan and cancelled out Weston McKennie’s cracking first-half opener, with a thunderous strike of his own 10 minutes after half-time.
Juve travel to the Philips Stadion a week on Wednesday with a good chance of setting up a last-16 showdown with Inter, who they face in Turin on Sunday night.
Either Inter or Arsenal await whichever of these two teams makes it through the play-offs.
Serhou Guirassy inspired Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 win at Sporting Lisbon to help the German side take control of the Champions League play-off round tie.
Guinea international Guirassy became the competition’s outright top scorer with his 10th goal after an hour before turning provider with a fine cross for Pascal Gross to net the second for last season’s runners-up.
Karim Adeyemi struck the third as Dortmund’s rapid counter-attack sliced open the hosts at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.
It leaves Sporting facing an uphill challenge in the second leg in Dortmund on 19 February.
2 Joe Cannings playing? 13 more should do.
Your welcome :-)