PSG stumble in their visit to Club Brugge with a 1-1 draw
PSG's UEFA Champions League debut wasn't as expected as they visited Club Brugge and ended with a 1-1 draw.
The French side featured their stellar front three from the start, and despite showing flashes of good football in the initial stages, Paris Saint-Germain seemed stuck against a good defensive Brugge.
Ander Herrera scored the 0-1 at minute 15' after finding a cross-pass from Kylian Mbappé in the middle of the box. That would be only one of the very few defensive blunders the Belgian club would fall on.
Hans Vanaken tied the board at minute 27' in also a defensive mistake when PSG left an open space inside the box letting Vanaken beat Keylor Navas with a well-placed shot to the right upper corner.
Kylian Mbappé left the pitch in the second half with an apparent ankle injury.
The match by Opta Facts:
● Paris Saint-Germain remain unbeaten against Belgian opposition in the UEFA Champions League (P7 W5 D2), scoring 22 goals and conceding just twice.
● Paris Saint-Germain have won their opening game in a UEFA Champions League campaign in just one of the last four seasons (D1 L2), beating Real Madrid 3-0 in 2019-20.
● Paris Saint-Germain have scored at least one goal in each of their last 33 games in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, in a run which originates from November 2015. This is the longest current scoring streak in the group stage of the competition.
● Ander Herrera’s opener for PSG was his first-ever goal in the UEFA Champions League (28th appearance in the competition) – the Spaniard has now scored four goals in his last four games for PSG in all competitions having netted just two goals in his first 70 appearances for the French side.
● Hans Vanaken became the first player to score in three consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances for Club Brugge, taking his tally of goals in the competition to seven, at least four more than any other player for the club.
● PSG’s Lionel Messi has gone four consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances without a victory (D2 L2), only between March 2006 – February 2007 has the Argentine gone longer without a win in the competition (a run of five with Barcelona).
● PSG’s Lionel Messi made his 150th UEFA Champions League appearance in this game (Barcelona, 149 & PSG, 1); only Iker Casillas (177), Cristiano Ronaldo (177) and Xavi (151) have played more games in the competition’s history.