Five goals, two red cards and two penalties. The first half of Bayer Leverkusen vs. Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday was wild.
Defending champion PSG ran up a 4-1 halftime lead in Germany after a breathtaking first period at the BayArena.
The action was relentless from the moment William Pacho gave the visitors the lead with a seventh-minute header.
What followed was chaos, with both teams reduced to 10 men and Leverkusen awarded two penalties.
Alex Grimaldo failed to score with the first — hitting the post in the 25th.
Eight minutes later Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich was shown a straight red following a VAR review of his elbow on Desire Doue. But PSG then saw Illia Zabarnyi sent off for a foul on Christian Kofane, who was through on goal. Zabarnyi had also conceded the first penalty.
This time Leverkusen made the chance count, with Aleix Garcia converting.
If that handed the home team a lifeline, it didn’t last long as PSG went into overdrive.
Desire Doue’s snap shot in the box restored the French giant’s lead in the 41st and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia lashed another into the top corner off the post in the 44th.
In the third minute of first half added time, Doue got his second with a low curling effort.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
James Robson, The Associated Press
