PSG break through CL glass ceiling after years of disappointment
After years of failing woefully to surpass their billing in Europe, Paris Saint-Germain are within 90 minutes of the Champions League final because of their dramatic make an impression on Atalanta on Wednesday, and coach Thomas Tuchel now knows "everything can be done" for his team.
PSG were on the verge of another disappointing Champions League exit as they trailed Atalanta 1-0 in to the 90th minute in Lisbon, where all of the latter stages are being played following the long coronavirus shutdown.
But Mario Pasalic's 27th-minute strike for the Italians was finally cancelled out by Marquinhos, who scrambled in a last-gasp leveller.
Then, 3 minutes into injury time, Kylian Mbappe create fellow substitute Eric Choupo-Moting to convert the clinching goal.
"The goals came very late but we deserved the victory. We never stopped believing or attacking," said Tuchel, whose team will face Atletico Madrid or RB Leipzig in the semi-final, the club's first since 1995.
"The boys who came off the bench had a huge impact. We deserved it, we made our very own luck."
The money ploughed in to the French champions by their Qatari owners has increased the pressure on PSG to deliver and losing to Atalanta could have invited more criticism of a club whose recent record in such games has been poor.
In the end, Atalanta's entire wage bill is believed to be equivalent to what PSG pay Neymar each year (about 36 million euros, or $42.5m).
Absent from decisive Champions League games in the last two seasons due to injuries, Neymar was excellent here, never quitting. He set up the equaliser and played a part in the winner.
"Going home never crossed my mind," said the world's priciest player.
Mbappe was only fit enough to play the final half-hour, after a spell on the sidelines with an ankle injury, but his pace down the left flank had Atalanta on the trunk foot in the closing stages and he laid on the winner.
- Choupo-Moting makes his mark -
PSG will be hopeful the France star can begin the semi-final next Tuesday, nonetheless it is because of Choupo-Moting they are there at all.
"We've already won four titles this year but the main is that one," declared the Cameroon striker.
It seems ironic that PSG -- the world's fifth-richest club according to this year's Deloitte Football League -- had a need to rely on a free of charge transfer from Stoke City to take them to the Champions League semi-finals for the very first time because the Qatari takeover in 2011.
That they had gone out within the last 16 the past three years, but Choupo-Moting's goal saw them break through the glass ceiling on a single day PSG marked their 50th anniversary.
From Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Ronaldinho, some fabulous players have turned out for the club within their relatively short history, although Choupo-Moting has not made a lot of a mark in his two seasons in Paris.
He had not previously scored in the Champions League and would probably have already been best remembered for missing an open goal while sitting on the line in a casino game against Strasbourg.
Indeed he would not have already been playing in this match in several circumstances.
Choupo-Moting's contract expired in June but he decided to stay on for two months to play a role in the 'Final Eight' after Edinson Cavani -- PSG's all-time top scorer, who was simply also out of contract -- walked away.
So the 31-year-old came on for the ineffective Mauro Icardi for the closing stages. He'll at best have a bit-part role to play in the semi-final, though.
Mbappe could be ready to get started on then and Angel Di Maria will return from suspension, although Marco Verratti will probably be out again injured.
"There is a large difference between playing with or without Kylian," Tuchel said.
"That's clear, and it's really the same with Marco and Angel. We now have six days for Kylian to make contact with his best.
"I'm not sure about Marco, but we are within the last four, everything is possible."
