Champions League: Hurri-Kane strikes Lazio, Mbappe at it again

San Sebastian, March 6

Kylian Mbappe led Paris Saint-Germain back to the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad that kept alive the French club’s hopes of winning the European title in their last season with the France forward.

PSG advanced 4-1 on aggregate, with Mbappe also scoring one of the goals in the 2-0 win in the first leg in Paris three weeks ago. Mbappe has already told PSG he will not stay with the club after this season.

Despite huge spending to try to win the Champions League for the first time, PSG had been eliminated from the last-16 stage five times in the last seven seasons, including the last two. They had made it to the semifinals in 2021 and were runners-up in 2020.

“We knew right away that we couldn’t go to sleep,” Mbappe said. “If they had opened the scoring, they would have pushed on with their fans’ backing. We had to dampen their hopes early on, and that’s what we did.”

Kane scripts comeback

Munich: He’s done it again. Harry Kane scored twice to steer Bayern Munich into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 comeback win over Lazio on Tuesday.

Kane’s 32nd and 33rd goals this season for Bayern ensured the Bavarian powerhouse recovered from losing the first leg of the last-16 tie 1-0 in Rome to win 3-1 on aggregate over two legs.

The win will ease the pressure on Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, whose premature departure at the end of the season was announced by Bayern after the team’s three-game losing run — including the defeat in Rome. — AP