Online Reporter
LUIS DIAZ scored twice and was sent off as Bayern Munich maintained their perfect record this season with a statement 2-1 win away to title-holders Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night in a glamour Champions League football tie marred by a first-half injury to Achraf Hakimi.
The Colombian gave Bayern a fourth-minute lead at the Parc des Princes and then pounced on slack defending to score again just after the half-hour mark.
However, the former Liverpool winger was then shown a red card in first-half stoppage time following a rash challenge on Hakimi which forced PSG’s Moroccan star off in tears.
Joao Neves pulled one back for PSG but Bayern held on despite playing the entire second half a man down, and despite Harry Kane failing to add to his 25 goals for club and country this season.
That in part illustrates the impact on PSG of losing the attacking thrust of all-action right-back Hakimi.
The German side’s sensational start to the campaign has seen them win all 16 games in all competitions, including their first four in the Champions League — they have scored 56 goals altogether and are one of only two clubs with 12 points in the 36-team standings in Europe’s elite competition alongside Arsenal.
As Vincent Kompany’s men march on, it remains to be seen what the consequences for PSG will be of the injury to Hakimi, who is due to lead Morocco into the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil next month.
PSG also saw Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele come off in the first half, cutting short just his second start in two months after a hamstring injury.
Luis Enrique’s team, who won last season’s Champions League final in style against Inter Milan in Munich, have been hampered by fitness issues in this campaign — Desire Doue, the best player in that final, was already missing here due to injury.
The actual consequences of losing this encounter may be less problematic than the injuries, however.
PSG came into this midweek on top of the Champions League standings and they remain well placed to qualify for the knock-out rounds halfway through the league phase.
This was a heavyweight meeting of the Champions League’s top two after the first three games, and a repeat of the 2020 final, won 1-0 by Bayern in Lisbon.
It was also a rerun of the Club World Cup quarter-final won 2-0 by PSG in Atlanta in July, and that remains the German giants’ last competitive loss.
This was a massive test of their credentials but the visitors scored from their first opening, as Michael Olise was denied by goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier only for the loose ball to fall to Diaz to fire in.
The hosts had not created anything before momentarily thinking they were level midway through the first half when Dembele chested in a Fabian Ruiz shot from close range.
However the effort was disallowed for off-side and Dembele was replaced shortly after, making way for Lee Kang-in and heading straight down the tunnel in what PSG fans will hope was just a precautionary move.
A whirlwind spell around the half-hour saw Bradley Barcola come close for Paris and Serge Gnabry try a shot at the other end that hit one post and grazed the other on its way out. Then Bayern scored again on 32 minutes as Diaz robbed a hesitant Marquinhos just outside the area and slotted in.
A Josip Stanisic strike for Bayern was ruled out before Diaz went from hero to villain on the stroke of half-time when he clumsily chopped down Hakimi, and the Moroccan’s left ankle twisted awkwardly under the challenge.
As Hakimi sobbed and was helped off, being replaced by Senny Mayulu, the referee gave Diaz a yellow card and then upgraded it to red after a review.
PSG struggled to make the extra man count in the second half before substitute Neves fired in from close range from Lee’s deflected cross on 74 minutes. That set up a grandstand finish, but Bayern held out.
Elsewhere Mikel Merino’s two second-half goals helped Arsenal to a 3-0 win at Slavia Prague, the Gunners’ fourth in as many games in the competition.
For the English Premier League leaders, the result also constituted a 10th straight win in all competitions and an eighth consecutive clean sheet.
They have now scored 11 goals and conceded none in the Champions League so far as they moved clear at the top of the standings.
The match also saw a moment of history as Arsenal’s Max Dowman became the youngest-ever player in a Champions League game aged just 15 years and 309 days when he came onto the pitch in the 73rd minute.
Stand-in captain Bukayo Saka opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 32 minutes after Slavia captain Lukas Provod had handled the ball in the box clearing a corner.
Merino made it 2-0 from a quick breakaway 30 seconds into the second half as he volleyed home at the near post after Leandro Trossard’s superb pass found him unmarked in the Slavia box.
He then beat Slavia goalkeeper Jakub Markovic with a header from Declan Rice’s cross on 68 minutes.
Merino was one of four changes made by Gunners coach Mikel Arteta against Arsenal’s 2-0 league win at Burnley on Saturday.
The game got off to an eventful start as Gabriel Magalhaes blasted wide from outside the box and Provod fol-lowed suit at the other end inside the opening two minutes.
Any effort by Slavia to get close to the Arsenal goal stumbled on the Gunners’ rock-solid defence, and the reigning Czech champions failed to produce a single shot on target during the match.
Arsenal were soon on the front foot, dominating possession and creating chances despite missing injured strikers Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli. — AFP.
