Wijnaldum finally makes a mark at PSG’s dismay; City makes no mistake

Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 10:56 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 23:05

Georginio Wijnaldum scored his first two goals for Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday evening. The midfielder seemed to help his team on their way to victory, but RB Leipzig came back to 2-2 in the final minutes. In the other game in Group A, Manchester City easily beat Club Brugge (4-1), which means that the English (nine points) together with the Parisians (eight points) are well on their way to the next round. Club (four points) and RB Leipzig (one point) are in a rearguard action.

RB Leipzig – Paris Saint Germain 2-2
In the opening phase it was Leipzig that struck the clock and in the eighth minute Christopher Nkunku headed in a cross from André Silva: 1-0. The latter was knocked down in the penalty area by Danilo shortly afterwards and was awarded a penalty, which the Portuguese attacker himself botched. PSG seemed to have nothing to contribute, but managed to completely turn the game around from the twentieth minute.

Neymar released Kylian Mbappé on the left side of the penalty area, after which Wijnaldum could walk in his cross: 1-1. Six minutes before half time, the the Dutch international also managed to make his second of the evening. Marquinhos headed the ball from a corner towards goal, after which Wijnaldum extended it with his head from close to the goal: 1-2.

Shortly after the break, the Dutchman cleared the ball with a simple pass for Mbappé, who shot wide. Moments later, the attacker created another chance for himself by beating Nordi Mukiele up to speed, but he was unable to shoot the ball behind Péter Gulácsi. On behalf of Leipzig, Dominik Szoboszlai had a good chance of scoring the equalizer, but his attempt was just missed. In the very last minute, Leipzig came back thanks to a penalty, which was given because Presnel Kimpembe jumped into the back of Amadou Haidara. Szoboszlai hit from eleven meters: 2-2.

Manchester City – Club Brugge 4-1
Manchester City stormed from the start towards Simon Mignolet’s goal, who was lucky after fifteen minutes that João Cancelo curled the ball onto the post in complete freedom. In the post-punch the ball again ended up with the Portuguese, who offered Phil Foden with a low cross at the far post: 1-0. Club Brugge reacted immediately and equalized within a minute. A pass from Charles De Ketelaere unfortunately ended up on the head of John Stones, who scored an own goal: 1-1.

Club Brugge remained on their feet for the remainder of the first half, but had to concede another goal nine minutes later. Again the assist came from Cancelo’s foot, whose cross was headed in freely by Riyad Mahrez: 2-1. The final blow to Club came in the 72nd minute, when Ilkay Gündogan appeared behind the defense and gave Raheem Sterling a simple header with a wide ball: 3-1. In the very last minute it became 4-1 via Gabriel Jesus, who found the far corner after Cancelo’s wide laying of about fifteen meters.