Second-half goals from Kylian Mbappé and Bradley Barcola secured Paris Saint-Germain a hard-fought 2-0 win over visitors Real Sociedad in the first leg of their round-of-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday.
Sociedad, who arrived at the Parc des Princes unbeaten in this year’s competition after topping Group D, were arguably the better side until Mbappé fired home a volley after he pounced onto Marquinhos‘ corner to give PSG the lead in the 58th minute.
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Mbappé’s goal made him the first player to score in 10 straight home games in the Champions League.
PSG took control of the game and in the 70th minute, Barcola extended their lead as he nudged the ball through the legs of the goalkeeper Álex Remiro.
“We struggled a lot in the first half. We spoke to each other at halftime and the coach [Luis Enrique] pulled our strings. He was really upset,” PSG captain Marquinhos told Canal Plus.
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“Our attitude was much better in the second half. He [Enrique] always tells us the truth, and that’s very important for the team.
“He gave us some advice … and that worked well in the second half. The first part of our objective has been achieved. It’s important to win at home.”
PSG were lucky to go into the break with the match scoreless as Real Sociedad’s captain Mikel Merino unleashed a thunderous strike that exploded off the crossbar just before halftime.
A resilient Mbappé, who missed his club’s previous match due to an ankle injury, took advantage of Real Sociedad being temporarily down to 10-men after defender Hamari Traoré was on the sidelines receiving medical treatment.
Mbappé’s strike into the the top corner sparked wild celebrations among the Parc des Princes crowd and the Frenchman almost extended PSG’s lead a little later but his thunderous effort was tipped away by Remiro.
“We managed to score at key moments in the game. We have a good lead,” Mbappé told Canal Plus.
“The clean sheet is important for us, we’ve been looking for that in the Champions League, although it’s true that they [Sociedad] have not not been scoring much at the moment.
“It’s evident that we had trouble getting out of their pressing game in the first half. We should have shown more character to get out of it, as we were eight [players] against six.
“The return leg will be more open, they will attack more and we will be given more space. If we get the space over 40 meters, I think we will score over there.”
Barcola extended PSG’s lead in the 70th minute with a fine individual display as he burst through from the halfway line to net a tidy finish.
PSG had more chances to score but the visitors held on and will have a tough task to fight back from two goals down in the return leg in Spain on March 5.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.