Kylian Mbappé destroyed Real Sociedad alone, or in the company of others, who in the second leg did not have even the option of turning the tie 180 degrees as Imanol intended. Not even the record attendance and an overturned stand from the beginning intimidated the Parisian star and a group of luxury secondary players who accompanied him and created, with his superiority, the right environment for the most sought-after footballer on the planet.
1
Remiro, Le Normand, Zubeldia (Jon Pacheco, min. 76), Hamari Traore, Javi Galán, Merino, Brais (Beñat Turrientes, min. 61), Martín Zubimendi (Jon Ander Olasagasti, min. 83), Sheraldo Becker (Barrenetxea, min. 61), Oyarzabal (André Silva, min. 76) and Take Kubo
2
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Lucas, Beraldo, Achraf Hakimi (Carlos Soler, min. 82), Nuno Mendes (Nordi Mukiele, min. 61), Warren Zaïre-Emery, Fabián (Manuel Ugarte, min. 77), Ousmane Dembélé (Randal Kolo Muani , min. 82), Vitor Ferreira, Bradley Barcola (Lee Kang-In, min. 45) and Kylian Mbappe
Goals 0-1 min. 15: Kylian Mbappe. 0-2 min. 56: Kylian Mbappe. 1-2 min. 89: Merino.
Referee Michael Oliver
Yellow cards Nuno Mendes (min. 28), Achraf Hakimi (min. 41), Take Kubo (min. 42), Ousmane Dembélé (min. 49) and Zubeldia (min. 54)
Real Sociedad wanted to go all out, but they found Mbappé, who hasn’t read Roldan’s song, but he doesn’t need to. “The Basques climb to the top of the highest mountains,” read – in the original in Latin – the gigantic banner displayed on the stands of the Reale Arena, reproducing the phrase inscribed on the monument to the battle of Roncesvalles, in which The Basques defeated Charlemagne’s troops. You had a bad time, French, sang the minstrels, who were the journalists of the Middle Ages. The current ones surrender to Mbappé in football matches, which are bloodless battles, and in front of the PSG star, there is little to say to him when he is having a good day; although he barely appears at the indicated times, which this Tuesday were a few.
Real wanted to play with patience, because as their coach said, a goal in the first minute was the same as in the seventieth minute, but they began to lose it when the Parisian number seven received the first ball on the right wing where he rules. Lucas Hernández put it on and spread panic in the San Sebastian defense, although the shot went wide. PSG played to hypnotize the people of San Sebastián. By moving the ball near their area, he attracted them towards his field, and waited for the clearings to open in his. This is how Mbappé ran, Zubeldia retreated and Anoeta trembled. Not ten minutes had passed when Kylian did another of his own. He reached the baseline and gave the pass to Barcola, who two meters from the goal, shot so that Remiro, almost accidentally, put his leg in and saved the chance.
But the next time he didn’t forgive. She received in the background, next to the vertex of the area. Zubeldia covered. The Frenchman made two feints, and after the second, already with an angle for the shot, he did not think twice and crossed the ball to widen the distance in the tie. The feeling that the game gave was that the match had already been amortized, because, at times, and despite the efforts put in by Real, the Parisian superiority was evident. And that of the French star, even more so.
Mbappé had another one, after turning around and shooting, for Remiro to deflect for a corner, before taking a breather. The game was Kylian, so when he was away for a while, the show went down. On the other side, Kubo was the only one who did anything of interest with a hard shot that went wide. The San Sebastian midfield did not have its day. Merino and Zubeldia faltered more than necessary, and could not stop the tectonic movements caused by their rival’s game.
So when the second half began, attention was focused on what His Majesty Mbappé would propose in the remaining time, and the doubt was immediately cleared up, when, as always close to the touchline, patient not to fall offside, he waited. Kang In’s vertical assistance to stand alone against Remiro. This time, the genius did not consist in the run he made to enter the area alone, which is supposed to be that quality, but in feinting with his body as if he were going to shoot at the long post, to finally do it at the short post and score the second . That was already final, the home team had nothing more to answer, their possibilities of response to such a conclusive score being exhausted.
Then Real pressed, more out of pride than to feed the hope of overcoming the impossible, but they did not manage to make their attacks bear fruit until the 89th minute, when Mikel Merino angrily finished off a ball that had fallen at his feet at the point of penalty. Before, Mbappé had caused panic in a couple more runs on his side, although he was well covered then. But he made it clear that, if he finally ends up in Spain, unless the owner of PSG remedies it, some unexpected maneuver by his mother, or the appeal to the patriotism of Sarkozy, who was in the Anoeta box, will become the indisputable attraction of the league. This Tuesday, in national territory he once again gave arguments for hiring him.
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