CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Mbape Spares Messi’s Blushes with Late Winner against Madrid

*Five-star Man City have one leg in quarter finals

PSG were overwhelmingly dominant last night but needed a 94th-minute strike from Kylian Mbappe to seal a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

After Lionel Messi’s 62nd-minute penalty was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, it looked as though the game would finish goalless until Mbappe struck at the death.

The first chance fell to Angel Di Maria, who was picked out well by a low cross from Mbappe but was unable to keep his shot under the bar when he really should have done better.

Mbappe then had his own effort well saved by Thibaut Courtois, with the French side enjoying the lion’s share of the possession and preventing Real from getting anything going in the opening stages.

The visitors didn’t have a single shot up until the final kick of the first half, when Casemiro’s header trickled harmlessly wide.

It was all PSG, but to Real’s credit, they defended well and limited them to just one shot on target in the first 45.

Mbappe had the second half’s first chance too. Some nice work in the box gave the PSG man the angle to get a shot off, but his powerful effort was well repelled by the excellent Courtois.

In the other match, Manchester City are on course for the quarterfinals after Bernardo Silva’s brace inspired a five-star 5-0 rout of Sporting Lisbon in Lisbon.

Pep Guardiola’s side produced a swaggering display at the Jose Alvalade Stadium to kill off Sporting before the second leg in Manchester on March 9.