Paris Saint-Germain defeated Benfica 3-2 at the International Champions Cup in front of 17,845 fans at BMO Field in Toronto on Saturday evening.
The French side struck first thanks to Jean-Kevin Augustin but enterted half-time behind thanks to a one-two punch from Talisca and Jardel in the latter part of the first half. Lucas Moura leveled the score midway through the second frame before Lucas Digne sealed a win for the Ligue 1 champions thanks to a howler from substitute goalkeeper Paulo Lopes.
The first chance of the match fell Benfica’s way in the 14th minute when Lima sprung past a high-pressing PSG defence, however Serge Aurier managed to get back in time before clearing with an expertly timed challenge.
Two minutes later the PSG defence once again looked shaky, allowing a low effort to cross the face of goal before goalkeeper Kevin Trapp punched away Talisca’s stinging effort when he looked certain to score.
PSG responded in the 20th minute when Jean-Christophe Bahebeck put Julio Cesar to work but the former Inter goalkeeper was up to the task, punching the effort away.
Despite looking the less lively of the two sides, the Ligue 1 champions struck first in the 30th minute thanks to a great piece of skill from Augustin. A low pass from Bahebeck was deftly flicked on by the 18-year-old, leaving Jardel flat footed, before firing a driven effort into the far post to make it 1-0.
The lead was short-lived however as Benfica leveled the score only four minutes later. Jonas’ long range effort was punched away by Trapp, but the rebound fell to an on-rushing Talisca as the Brazilian’s shot found the back of the net after a slight deflection off a PSG defender.
Benfica took the lead just before the end of the first half when Gaitan was put through one-on-one with Trapp. When it looked like the 27-year-old was in past the German goalkeeper the Argentine stopped his run, looked up and found Jonas with no PSG defender in sight allowing the striker to fire home a with a simple tap-in to make it 2-1.
PSG tied the game in the 63rd minute from the penalty spot when Christopher Nkunku was taken down in the penalty area by a clumsy Jardel challenge, with Lucas sending Julio Cesar the wrong way to level the score at 2-2.
Les Parisiens would seal a win and all three points 11 minutes from time when Digne fired a left-footed strike short side at Lopes. The goalkeeper mistimed his attempt to parry the effort resulting in a rather comical winning goal in what was a thoroughly entertaining encounter.
