Les Parisiennes make it through to the Champions League semi-finals! | OneFootball

With Paris Saint-Germain having run out 3-0 winners (5-1 on aggregate) over BK Häcken at the Parc des Princes this evening in the second leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final, we take a look back at how they made it through!

A week after their convincing 2-1 first-leg win in Sweden, Paris Saint-Germain were back in UWCL action at the Parc des Princes this evening, as they faced BK Häcken in the second leg of their quarter-final tie, with Les Rouge et Bleu aiming to make it through to the semi-finals of the most prestigious club competition of all.

To achieve that aim, Jocelyn Prêcheur put out a central defence consisting of Elisa De Almeida, Jade Le Guilly and Eva Gaetino to protect Katarzyna Kiedrzynek's goal. In the wing-back positions, Sakina Karchaoui found herself on the left flank, while Amalie Vangsgaard was placed on the opposite side. In the middle, captain Grace Geyoro was accompanied by United States international Korbin Albert, while in attack, Sandy Baltimore occupied the right wing, with Tabitha Chawinga on the left flank and Marie-Antoinette Katoto in the centre-forward position.

During what was a fairly balanced start to the game, the Karchaoui/Chawinga duo were already looking lively over on the left. In fact, in the seventh minute, the Malawian striker managed to break into the box before playing a decent cross in for Geyoro, but it was just too short for the Paris captain to be able to make proper contact with it. A few minutes later, it was Katoto's time to shine with a low shot towards the near post, but Häcken keeper Jennifer Falk got a foot to it. At this point, Paris were beginning to tighten their grip on the game, with the Swedish backline just about managing to block another effort from Chawinga in the 17th minute.

With the same energy as ever, the forward would then win the ball high up the pitch and once again call Falk into action before getting her reward a few moments later, as her powerful, left-footed shot across goal nestled into the back of the net with the help of the post (1-0, 27'). The capital club would then keep the ball almost entirely for themselves, enjoying long spells of possession in order to try to find another way through a highly compact defensive unit. Les Rouge et Bleu, who were now in complete control of the match, went in a goal up at the break.

Shortly after the restart, Les Parisiennes were back on the attack, as shown by Karchaoui, who superbly beat her opposition number on the left wing before crossing in for the head of Katoto, but Falk was there to prevent Paris from doubling their lead on the night. As the minutes ticked by, the Paris centre-forward was weighing increasingly heavily on the Swedish defence, and following some well-executed combination play with Chawinga just after the hour mark, she lined up another shot that forced the Häcken keeper to make a brilliant save. In order to get past what was an incredibly dense opposition block, Paris decided to start relying on shots from distance. Luckily, their very own Korbin Albert happens to excel in this domain, and the Paris midfielder demonstrated this again tonight by firing off a cleanly hit, left-footed shot into the top corner from 25 yards out (2-0, 75').

Thanks to this peach of a goal, Paris had undoubtedly dashed any remaining hopes for the visitors, and just in case they hadn't, Katoto made sure of it a few moments later. After Karchaoui yet again broke through down the left flank, the striker was there to score with a diving header that put Les Rouge et Bleu all but through (3-0, 74'). In the last quarter of an hour, Les Parisiennes continue to control proceedings, with Häcken unable to mount any sort of comeback, and after a heavily one-sided affair, Paris Saint-Germain earned themselves a 3-0 win and a place in the final four.

Les Parisiennes will now return to league action, as they host eighth-placed Dijon FCO at 14:30 CET this Sunday at Campus PSG on Matchday 19 of the Division 1 Arkema season, before the capital club return to the UEFA Women's Champions League in late April to take on Olympique Lyonnais in the semi-finals. See you then!

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