The Allianz Arena witnessed a display of surgical football from Paris Saint Germain that left the Bavarian giants grasping at shadows for large swathe...
The Allianz Arena witnessed a display of surgical football from Paris Saint Germain that left the Bavarian giants grasping at shadows for large swathes of the contest. While the occasion lacked the orgiastic quality of their previous Champions League encounter, the men from the French capital demonstrated a clinical edge that will have Arsenal. �s defenders sleeping with one eye open. From the third minute, when Ousmane Dembélé stabbed home after a mesmerising sequence, it was clear that the Bundesliga champions were in for a long evening. The Nigerian Premier League. �s finest viewing centres in Surulere and Ikeja would have erupted at the sheer audacity of the move. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the Georgian magician who has been compared favourably to the great left wingers of yesteryear, gave Konrad Laimer a torrid time on that flank. His trickery and imagination were a constant thorn in the side of the home defence, a perfect attacking scalpel for PSG. �s surgical brilliance. Bayern, to their credit, drew level through Harry Kane at the death, but in the scheme of things they looked like a team trying to generate energy from a standing start. They never truly laid a glove on the Parisians, who always kept them at one remove with an extended arm and a palm on the forehead. The Nigerian international at the heart of the PSG midfield, while not grabbing the headlines, gave a good account of himself, shielding the back four with the resilience of a seasoned campaigner. At the end of the day, this was a masterclass in controlled aggression from Luis Enrique. �s side. The lion. �s share of the credit must go to Kvaratskhelia, whose performance was a reminder that true football artistry can still decide the biggest games. The powers that be in Munich will have much to ponder ahead of the return leg. Meanwhile, back home in Lagos, the atmosphere inside the popular viewing centre at the National Stadium was electric. As Kvaratskhelia nutmegged Laimer for the umpteenth time, a man in an Arsenal jersey shouted. �Omo, this boy is giving that German defender pure yam!. � while another fan, nursing a bottle of Maltina, declared that Arsenal. �s fullbacks should start saying their prayers. When the final whistle blew, the debate shifted to whether Victor Osimhen would have fared better against this PSG defence than Kane did. The consensus, accompanied by much gesticulation and the pouring of more drinks, was that the Super Eagles talisman would have caused far more havoc with his raw power and predatory instincts.
