On Tuesday evening, the first two matches of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals were played.
One of the most anticipated matches took place in the French capital, where Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea clashed. Laurent Blanc's players dominated, but only managed to extend their lead at home.
The match started without much observation from the teams and proceeded with a fast-paced game. In the 10th minute, the first serious danger arose near Thibaut Courtois' goal, when Blaise Matuidi headed a shot into the net after Edinson Cavani's pass, but the Belgian goalkeeper reacted to the Frenchman's shot.
Just a minute later, a similar situation occurred near the Chelsea goal - B.Matuidi made a high pass into the penalty area, and Zlatan Ibrahimović rose above everyone else and took a shot towards the goal, but once again T.Courtois demonstrated a great reaction.
Chelsea continued to struggle to impose their game, while PSG had the initiative. However, in the 36th minute, Chelsea launched a great attack, with the main actors being the defensive trio. John Terry took a shot towards the PSG penalty area, and Gary Cahill redirected the ball with a superb touch towards Branislav Ivanović's head, and the Serb put the English champions ahead.
In the second half, the Paris team's game plan remained unchanged, and PSG continued to try to equalize the score. In the 54th minute, the first goal was scored in the Chelsea goal, when E.Cavani scored after a great pass from B.Matuidi.
Just a few minutes later, the French champions could have taken the lead, as Zlatan Ibrahimović shot straight at the goalkeeper, but the ball rebounded directly to Ezequiel Lavezzi's feet from the goal line, and Cesar Azpilicueta was able to clear the ball away just in time.
At the end of the match, E.Cavani had a great opportunity to seal the win, but the Uruguayan failed to send the ball into the net from a sharp angle, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
In the other match, Donetsk's Shakhtar faced Bayern Munich in front of their home crowd. In a fiercely contested match, a goalless draw was recorded.
This match was not short of battles, as eight yellow cards were shown within the 90 minutes. Shakhtar did not back down against Bayern and had a great opportunity to win when Xabi Alonso was sent off for a second yellow card. However, the hosts could not capitalize on their player advantage, and the match ended goalless.
The second legs of these two ties will be played on March 11th.
Results:
PSG 1 - 1 Chelsea
36' [0 - 1] B.Ivanovic
54' [1 - 1] E.Cavani
Shakhtar 0 - 0 Bayern
65' X.Alonso (Bayern) sent off from the pitch
