PARIS —Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg underlined exactly how important Kylian Mbappe is to the French giants. All of the talk ahead of the game focused on his fitness and involvement, all eyes were on him as soon as the players were out, and many stayed on him during a poor first half from the hosts.
Mbappe, 24, was only fit enough to make the bench for the start of the clash with the Germans and yet the game played out essentially as a countdown to his return to action. Absent from the pregame warm-up, there was fear around Parc des Princes that PSG might have overstated his fitness in a bid to win some early mind games.
Les Parisiens’ opening 45 only served to strengthen the argument that Christophe Galtier’s men desperately needed to involve Mbappe as soon as possible. Bayern were comfortable and dominant without truly asserting their control on the encounter while PSG created nothing with their front two of Lionel Messi and Neymar.
Mbappe was out of the field at half-time limbering up and it was at that moment that the home crowd truly woke up after what had been quite a subdued home atmosphere. PSG started the second half better than the first and started to push forward and create which had been badly missing in the first 45.
However, arguably against the run of play, Kingsley Coman put Bayern ahead on 53 minutes just as the home supporters were lifting the team with Mbappe about to come on. The French superstar did duly take to the field and immediately injected a sense of urgency as Galtier also opted to add greater experience in midfield with Fabian Ruiz.
Youngster Warren Zaire Emery could feel aggrieved to be making way alongside the ineffectual Carlos Soler, but it was telling that PSG remained without a shot on target beyond 70 minutes. In fact, the Ligue 1 leaders’ best performers all night were veteran defender Sergio Ramos and…
