Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain side exorcised the ghosts of their past three campaigns to reach the Champions League Last-16 for the first time since 2020-21, beating Real Sociedad 4-1 on aggregate.
Kylian Mbappe scored in the first half, prompting a bizarre check to see whether or not the ball had passed through a hole in the net, after toying with two defenders inside the box to finish at the near post.
It had not, rather it had created the hole so hard had the skipper struck it, and the visitors stretched their aggregate lead to 3-0 inside 15 minutes in San Sebastian.
It was the Frenchman’s 45th goal in just 69 appearances in the competition – the second youngest to have reached the milestone, behind only his great former team-mate Lionel Messi.
By this stage in the game the hosts were left with it all to do, needing three goals to topple one of the favourites of the tournament, and were ultimately only able to offer up one.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice as Real Sociedad fell to a 4-0 aggregate Champions League loss to PSG
Mbappe scored his 45th goal in 69 Champions League appearances on Tuesday evening
The French striker’s goal required a brief check after it arose there was a hole in the goal net
After bringing on Lee Kang-in at the break for Bradley Barcola, the visitors continued their dominance in the second half.
With 11 minutes of heavy pressure putting the Ligue 1 champions in the ascendancy, Mbappe latched onto a long ball over the top to plunder a second goal of the night and third in the tie.
Mbappe beat the offside trap to burst into open space, with half the pitch to charge at Sociedad goalkeeper Alex Remiro before fooling him with his eyes and finishing into the near post to make it 2-0.
Sociedad gave themselves a shout of a La Remontada-esque comeback when Ander Barrenetxea’s header trickled in through the legs of Gianluigi Donnarumma on 63 minutes, but it was scrubbed off after the youngster had strayed offside.
That seemed to awaken Sociedad, who began to enjoy greater possession and territory in the final 25 minutes of the game, although they struggled to put any of their attempts on goal on target.
They might have had a chance of getting their goal after Mikel Oyarzabal twisted and turned his way into the box from the left-hand side after Donnarumma chose to keep the ball in play.
The Spanish forward sat down a PSG defender before trying to scoop it over Donnarumma’s giant frame, but the Italian keeper held his ground and simply stuck out a huge paw and plucked it out of the air.
Martin Zubimendi, the midfielder reportedly wanted by a host of top clubs from Arsenal to Barcelona, spurned yet another opportunity as the hosts began to ramp up their efforts on the PSG goal. With the ball cut back into his path on the right-hand side of the box, Zubimendi attempted to carve it into the top corner of the goal but got it horribly wrong, the ball flying well over the bar off his toe.
Mbappe’s second of the game came just after the break with a brilliant finish to the near post
Mikel Merino got one back for the hosts in the 89th minute, but it was not enough on the night
At last, though, the hosts gave their hosts something to truly cheer about with the clocking ticking into the red.
After some good work by Benat Turrientes, veteran Mikel Merino cut a volley into the ground from close range which flew into the bottom corner, via the foot of Carlos Soler, not long having taken to the pitch.
The visitors were very quickly down the other end looking to re-establish their two goal ascendancy on the night, Mbappe playing a well-executed reverse pass for Soler, but the former Valencia star was unable to put it past Remiro.
