Paris St-Germain beat Chelsea 5-2 in Champions League first leg
Chelsea suffered a dramatic late collapse to lose 5-2 against holders Paris St-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Parc des Princes.
Liam Rosenior’s side had twice recovered from a goal down before a costly second-half error from goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen gifted the French giants a crucial third.
The visiting stopper saw his 74th-minute pass easily intercepted by Bradley Barcola, allowing substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to square the ball for Vitinha to chip into an empty net.
Late collapse punishes brave visitors
Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez had earlier provided impressive equalisers in response to initial strikes from Barcola and Ousmane Dembele.
However, Jorgensen’s awful misjudgement proved to be a psychological blow from which the Premier League outfit simply could not recover.
The substitute forward curled in a brilliant fourth shortly afterwards before tapping in a stoppage-time fifth to ruthlessly twist the knife.
European champions expose defensive flaws
The away side showed commendable bravery in taking the game to the reigning European champions, but their tactical naivety ultimately proved their undoing.
A casual approach to the threat posed by rapid transitions left too much space for the lightning-fast Parisian attackers to exploit.
While these defensive vulnerabilities will almost certainly mean an exit in next week’s return leg, the West Londoners can take a sliver of encouragement from having briefly exposed flaws in the home defence.
