The Goalposts of Parisian Despair
No team had hit the woodwork this many times in a Champions League knockout game in 20 years.
Gregor Kobel's crossbar still echoes from the impact. In the 88th minute, just outside the area, Vitinha took a dry shot with his right foot. The ball soared and ended its journey on the Swiss goalkeeper's crossbar, leaving him powerless but a happy onlooker. For the fourth time that night, PSG hit the post of the opposing goal.
Two minutes earlier, Kylian Mbappé's close-range attempt was deflected onto the crossbar by the Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper. Prior to him, Nuno Mendes fired a left-footed cross missile into the post, the same post that Warren Zaïre-Emery grazed from an impossible angle as the second half began with the score still at 0-0, setting the tone for what would follow.
Four posts, albeit not square, equate to four missed opportunities. It had been 20 years since any team hit the posts so many times in a knockout stage match in the Champions League.
The summary of a season off the mark
On Tuesday night, in which the Parisians fired 30 shots without scoring (another record) and concluded with a semifinal elimination, was ultimately the climax of a season marked by this "bad luck." Already in the first leg, PSG had rattled the German frame twice with shots from Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi.
Beyond this double confrontation, PSG hit the posts 14 times during their European campaign. A record they could have done without, as no team in the last two decades had suffered from such a lack of effectiveness. A failure all admitted after the elimination, from Marquinhos to Mbappé.
However, this issue isn't confined to the context of the Champions League, as PSG has hit the posts 12 times in Ligue 1. It's up to the Parisians to improve their accuracy in the future to avoid more disappointments.
