-
Important news
-
News
-
Shenzhen
-
China
-
World
-
Opinion
-
Sports
-
Kaleidoscope
-
Photo Highlights
-
Business
-
Markets
-
Business/Markets
-
World Economy
-
Speak Shenzhen
-
Leisure Highlights
-
Culture
-
Travel
-
Entertainment
-
Digital Paper
-
In depth
-
Weekend
-
Lifestyle
-
Diversions
-
Movies
-
Hotels
-
Special Report
-
Yes Teens
-
News Picks
-
Tech and Science
-
Glamour
-
Campus
-
Budding Writers
-
Fun
-
Futian Today
-
Advertorial
-
CHTF Special
-
FOCUS
-
Guide
-
Nanshan
-
Hit Bravo
-
People
-
Person of the week
-
Majors Forum
-
Shopping
-
Investment
-
Tech and Vogue
-
Junior Journalist Program
-
Currency Focus
-
Food Drink
-
Restaurants
-
Yearend Review
-
QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> Sports -> 
PSG puts Liverpool on brink; Barca wins
    2018-11-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

PARIS Saint-Germain (PSG) showed its resilient side, beating Liverpool 2-1 Wednesday in a scrappy match to get its Champions League campaign back on track.

The win moves PSG up to second place in Group C and drops Liverpool down to third, turning the pressure onto Juergen Klopp’s team heading into the last round of games.

Left-back Juan Bernat and Neymar gave PSG a deserved 2-0 lead against a static Liverpool side, whose only attacks in the first half were predictable and slow forays down the right.

Liverpool was given a lifeline on the stroke of halftime when forward Sadio Mane was clumsily tripped by Angel Di Maria and veteran midfielder James Milner coolly sent Gianluigi Buffon the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Liverpool had the better of the second half but failed to create clear scoring chances, with Mohamed Salah particularly ineffective and easily marked by burly center-back Presnel Kimpembe.

Klopp was quick to criticize referee Szymon Marciniak and took a swipe at Neymar and other PSG players for what he considered to be play-acting.

“There was a little hurdle with the 500,000 interruptions in the second half, and the referee did nothing. In England we are high up in the fair play table, but tonight we looked like butchers,” Klopp said. “It was clever of PSG, Neymar — especially him — but a lot of players went down as if it was really serious.”

Klopp wanted PSG’s players to be punished more often.

“You act like you die and the next moment you get up. It could be a yellow card. You could do that. Everybody’s going down, it’s not football anymore,” Klopp said. “But I don’t want to say ‘Paris didn’t deserve it.’ We were not calm enough ... Our decision making was not good enough.”

In Group C’s other match, Napoli beat Red Star Belgrade 3-1 at home. Napoli is one point ahead of PSG and three clear of Liverpool, leaving the three teams fighting to advance to the knockout stage.

Liverpool must beat Napoli at home Dec. 11, while PSG travels to last-place Red Star.

“We need Anfield again, we need a great atmosphere,” Klopp said. “We have to make a special night of it if we want to go through.”

PSG celebrated the win almost as if it had won a title, with Neymar jumping over the advertising hoardings and leading the rest of the team into jubilant dancing in front of the fans. It was a clear sign of PSG’s relief at finally winning a big game after twice drawing with Napoli and losing away to Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Barcelona endured a nervy final eight minutes at PSV Eindhoven after Luuk de Jong cut their lead in half late, but Barca held on for a 2-1 win that clinched them first place in Group B.

Lionel Messi opened the scoring around the hour mark with a brilliant individual effort, slaloming through several defenders before hitting a rocket into the top corner of the net.

Veteran defender Gerard Pique doubled the visitors’ advantage soon thereafter before De Jong made things interesting near the end. But it turned out to be too little, too late for the Dutch side, which had already been eliminated from knockout stage contention.

Spurs got the three points they needed against Inter Milan thanks to substitute Christian Eriksen, who finished off a pretty passing sequence with 10 minutes to play.(SD-Agencies)

深圳报业集团版权所有, 未经授权禁止复制; Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.
Shenzhen Daily E-mail:szdaily@szszd.com.cn