He didn’t even have to be there: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, a time not qualified for the competition, has issued the Paris SG against Atalanta (2-1), Wednesday, with a goal at the end of added time which sent his team to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
His entry into play (79th), instead of Mauro Icardi, looked like a game of poker for his trainer Thomas Tuchel who, until then, had not found the key to the Lombard lock.
“Choupo“, the man of the end of the match, eternal replacement, whose most famous feat of arms was to prevent his teammate Christopher Nkunku to score, with an improbable technical gesture on his line, in April 2019.
Since the start of the year, he no longer even appeared on the list of eligible players to compete in C1, relegated to the end of the offensive hierarchy behind superstars not used to sharing minutes.
As a logical consequence, his contract has not been renewed for the start of the school year.
But the departure at the end of June ofEdinson Cavani put him back in the workforce … and indirectly offered PSG a sacred moment of history, on his fiftieth birthday.
The Cameroon international first delivered the cross for Neymar who then served Marquinhos for equalization (90th). Above all, it is he who takes the pass from “Ney“to offer the qualification, unexpected, to PSG (90th + 3).
Choupo-Moting thus scored his first career goal in the Champions League, at 31!
“It gives”
“It was out of the question for me to leave the club like that. I want to finish the season and the Champions League with Paris, because I am very happy here. It’s a great club, we have a great team and there are still great things to come. I want to continue to be a part of it“, he told the club channel before leaving for Portugal.
“He is very strong in training, he accepts his role in this team, in the hierarchy he is behind Mbappé and Icardi, it’s clear“, has explained Tuchel for its part, mid-July.
The goal of Choupo-Moting is also a great victory for Tuchel, who knew the native of Hamburg in Mainz. It is the German technician who attracted in 2018 the striker without much reference, who remained on a season without relief in Stoke City.
The coach appreciates his fighting skills and his state of mind in the center forward, he who likes to appear on social networks, in trendy places in the capital or on skate at Camp des Loges.
“It gives“He likes to say. Against Atalanta, he gave. And PSG is ready to receive even more.
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