Botafogo Stun PSG To Qualify For Club World Cup Second Round
European Champions PSG suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Brazilian side Botafogo in the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday.
It was a battle between champions of Europe, and South America, Igor Jesus scored the only goal to hand Botafogo the maximum points.
He did brilliantly to shrug off Willian Pacho before his shot took a slight deflection past PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to the net.
Luis Enrique’s side are one of the favourites to win the competition after they defeated Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final in May.
However, they struggled to break down Botafogo despite a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid in their first match of the competition.
Ousmane Dembele missed the match as a result of the injury he sustained while on international duty with France.
Botafogo have now qualified for the round of 16 with six points with a game to spare against Atletico Madrid after their opening day victory over Seattle Sounders.
Goalscorer Igor Jesus was delighted with Botafogo’s performance, and historic victory over PSG.
He said: “A lot of people wondered, but we showed how strong Botafogo is. It was a difficult game, and we had to defend well, and we did our job and scored a goal.
“We’re really happy – we knew how important this game was. One team was the champion of the Champions League, the other team was the champion of South America,”
The Brazilian forward has been linked with a move to English Premier League side Nottingham Forest following his impressive performances for Botafogo.
Botafogo coach Renato Paiva said his team had beaten PSG at their own game.
He said: “Being a great team, playing together, all the guys defending, all the guys attacking, and that’s the big secret of this PSG team, that’s why they compete and win.
“They are a fantastic team. I said this, PSG are a lesson to everybody nowadays in football. And I told my guys, just be a team, enjoy playing together, attack together, defend together, and enjoy. And they did. Fantastic.”
Up next for PSG is a clash against Seattle Sounders on Monday, a win will guarantee them a place in the second round of the Club World Cup.
Botafogo became the first team to stop PSG scoring since March when Liverpool defeated them 1-0 in the Champions League.
The European Champions had scored in 19 consecutive games before firing blanks on Thursday.
Botafogo Stun PSG To Qualify For Club World Cup Second Round is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
