PSG comfortably defeat United & qualify for UCL group stage

Paris Saint-Germain had a difficult job ahead of them on Wednesday evening as they prepared for a season-defining second leg with Manchester United, with both teams coming into the game with a goal each (1-1 aggregate).

But despite the nerve-racking previous scoreline and possible outcome, PSG put all of that aside and gave a commendable performance, which ended 3-1 in their favour.

Starting Line-up

Formation: 4-3-3

Katarzyna Kiedrzynek

Karchaoui, De Almeida, Hunt, Le Guilly

Albert, Groenen, Geyoro (C)

Chawinga, Martens Van Leer, Baltimore

Jocelyn Precheur made a very notable change with Constance Picaud being replaced with Kiedrzynek in goal—a decision that actually paid off quite well after seeing the Polish keeper's display.

New signing Clare Hunt contributed in defence, and Korbin Albert had to come in for Oriane Jean-Francois.

Match Report

Both sides indeed would have come into this with a bag of nerves, and for PSG, going out before the group stage would already consider their season disappointing, especially with the expectations and goals they're hoping to achieve.

With a 1-1 scoreline from the previous game, PSG knew that a win and only a win would do for them. And they got off to a good start as only 18 minutes into the first half, an attempt from Chawinga, which was initially saved by Mary Earps, found the path of Lieke Martens Van Leer, who found the back of the net.

PSG went into halftime with the advantage over the English side, but only a minute after the break, Lisa Naalsund was quick to equalise and brought United truly back into the tie.

But it was short-lived, as Lieke Martens got herself another goal and put PSG back into the lead. Almost 10 minutes after Lieke's brace, Sandy Baltimore finished off the time by scoring Paris's third goal of the evening, an absolutely phenomenal goal. The tightest of angles from the corner somehow found its way past Earps.

PSG did have a slight panic as United got a goal back but was quickly disallowed due to a foul in the buildup.

And that was that. PSG have qualified for this year's Champions League group stage, getting a 3-1 (4-2) victory.

The Champions League will take place on Friday, the 20th October.

Here are the pots for all the teams involved in the UCL:

Pot 1: Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern, Lyon

Pot 2: PSG, Slavia, Real Madrid, Rosengard

Pot 3: Benfica, Hacken, Roma, St Polen

Pot 4: Ajax, Paris FC, Frankfurt, Brann