Paris: Manchester United pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history as Marcus Rashford’s last-gasp VAR penalty sealed a 3-1 win at Paris St Germain and sent the English side into the quarterfinals on away goals here, Wednesday.
Never in 106 attempts in Europe’s premium club competition had a team progressed in a knockout tie after a 2-0 home defeat, but Rashford’s stoppage-time penalty – the first he had taken for the club – put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side through in the most dramatic fashion as the tie finished level at 3-3.
The result came 20 years after Solskjaer wrote his name into the club’s folklore by scoring the injury-time winner in the final victory over Bayern Munich to complete the treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
While United march on, PSG are left to wonder how, yet again, they have failed in Europe despite spending millions to put together a team that crushes all domestic opposition.
They had lost only two of their last 50 European games at the Parc des Princes but have still yet to reach even the semi-finals of the Champions League.
PSG dominated possession, though, and with United’s defence all over the place, it was no surprise when Juan Bernat knocked in Kylian Mbappe’s cross to level in the 12th minute after Romelu Lukaku had given United the lead inside two minutes.
The hosts continued to control the game but United took the advantage again with their next chance when Buffon failed to deal with a fierce, low Rashford shot and Lukaku poked home the rebound late in the first half.
PSG, with injured Brazil striker Neymar watching from the stands, had all the ball in the second half without ever looking very threatening and seemingly settling for their 3-2 aggregate lead, while United were disciplined and tireless in defence.
The visitors started to press forward in the final 10 minutes, with little joy, until Diogo Dalot fired in a speculative long-range shot that was blocked by the leaping Presnel Kimpembe.
Nobody except Dalot seemed to notice the handball but the referee called for a review and pictures showed that the ball hit the back of Kimpembe’s arm as he jumped.
Alter a lengthy wait, the penalty was awarded.
England striker Rashford, who had never taken a penalty in a competitive game for United, kept his nerve during the long delay to smash it past Buffon.
Agencies
