Five goals, two red cards and two penalties. The first half of Bayer Leverkusen’s 7-2 loss to 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 Désiré Doué. 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 García converting.
If that handed the home team a lifeline, it didn’t last long as PSG went into overdrive.
Doué’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, Doué got his second with a low curling effort.
Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé came off the bench for his first match action since picking up an injury on France duty in September. He marked his return with a goal of his own as PSG made it three wins from three games as the defending champions maintained their perfect start to the Champions League.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
