 "Champions League last 16: 10-man Barcelona beat Benfica; Liverpool stun PSG; Bayern win big")
Harvey Elliott scored less than a minute after coming on as a late substitute to fire Liverpool to a stunning 1-0 win at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday.
Runaway Premier League leader Liverpool had survived a barrage of attacks at Parc des Princes to keep the score at 0-0 going into the final stages.
Elliott was sent on to replace Mohamed Salah in the 86th minute and became an unlikely hero by sweeping a low shot into the corner of the net with his first touch of the match.
“To go away with a win over here was probably a bit more than we deserved,” Liverpool coach Arne Slot admitted after watching goalkeeper Alisson pull off a string of saves in a match dominated by PSG.
Bayern Munich took a big step toward the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win against German champion Bayer Leverkusen and 10-man Barcelona beat Benfica 1-0.
Inter Milan won 2-0 at Feyenoord.
PSG’s players will be left wondering how they failed to take a lead into next Tuesday’s second leg at Anfield after creating a slew of chances.
January signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was outstanding and repeatedly forced Alisson into action in each half.
The Brazil goalkeeper later described it as possibly the performance of his life after also denying Ousmane Dembele in a one-on-one and stopping another effort from Desire Doue.
The one time Alisson was beaten — by a curling shot from Kvaratskhelia in the first half — the goal was ruled out by VAR for offside.
“It’s difficult to think about the match in a positive way. We deserved to win, clearly,” said PSG coach Luis Enrique. “Football many times is unfair and we have to accept that, but we are ready to (go to) Liverpool.
“We don’t have anything to lose.”
It was the first time PSG had been beaten in 23 games in all competitions.
Watching on from the stands was former PSG player David Beckham.
Despite signing a host of superstar players like the ex-England captain, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, the French giant is yet to win the Champions League.
Liverpool, meanwhile, has lifted the trophy on six occasions and underlined its know-how in this competition by soaking up the pressure before delivering a late sucker punch.
An inspired substitution by Slot helped as well.
Salah had been unusually ineffective and looked frustrated as the signal came up for him to leave the field. But moments later, Elliott came up with the decisive moment.
“For us, the only way over here with their fans behind them was to defend as we did and now we are hoping of course that our fans at Anfield will help us,” Slot said.
Lautaro Martinez became Inter’s all-time leading scorer in the Champions League with his 18th goal in European club soccer’s most prestigious competition, overtaking club great Sandro Mazzola’s record.
Brazilian Adriano also scored 18 goals in the Champions League, but that included qualifying games.
Martinez’s landmark goal is notable, given some of the iconic forwards to have played for Inter, including Ronaldo, Christian Vieiri and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
He fired high into the corner of the net in the 50th minute in Rotterdam to double Inter’s lead after Marcus Thuram struck in the 38th.
The 2023 finalist could have been in an even more commanding position after the first leg, but but Piotr Zielinski’s penalty in the 65th was saved by Timon Wellenreuther.
Raphinha scored a second-half winner as 10-man Barcelona got the better of Benfica again.
The Brazil forward had scored twice in a thrilling 5-4 come-from-behind win at Benfica in the league phase and he was on target again at the Stadium of Light.
Intercepting a loose pass by defender António Silva outside the area, Raphinha sent a left-footed shot into the far corner in the 61st.
Victory came despite Pau Cubarsi’s red card in the 22nd.
Bayern is eyeing the quarterfinals after a comfortable 3-0 win over 10-man Leverkusen, which had defender Nordi Mukiele sent off in the 62nd.
Harry Kane scored twice to end his four game-scoring drought and Jamal Musiala capitalized on a mistake from Leverkusen ’keeper Matej Kovar to give Bayern a big advantage going to Leverkusen for the second leg next Tuesday.
Kane’s second goal was a penalty, his 30th successful spot kick in a row.
It was Bayern’s first win over a Leverkusen team coached by its former player Xabi Alonso at the seventh attempt.
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