Bayern’s Nagelsmann praises defender De Ligt

MUNICH: Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann said Matthijs de Ligt “saved” his side after the Dutch defender scored a vital goal-line clearance against Paris Saint-Germain to help the Germans qualify for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-finals .

Bayern won 2-0 that night and led 3-0 on aggregate, but the tie was evened out in the first half when de Ligt saved Vitinha’s shot after goalkeeper Yann Sommer was caught trying to to dribble out of his own penalty area.

Second-half goals from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Serge Gnabry then secured Bayern a place in the last eight.

Nagelsmann wasn’t overly pleased with Sommer’s risk-taking, instead praising De Ligt’s game-changing intervention.

“Yann obviously has a good relationship with Matthijs,” joked Nagelsmann. “Nine out of ten defenders in the world would have left that because they thought it was already in.”

“That was an incredible game. He (de Ligt) loves to defend and hates to concede goals,” added Nagelsmann.

“Mistakes happen but luckily we have a defender who saved us.”

Sommer, who joined Munich from Borussia Mönchengladbach in January to replace injured Bayern captain Manuel Neuer, said: “It was outstanding how he saved me.

“If that went wrong, the game would look different, so we were lucky.”

The Switzerland goalkeeper joked that he had a special reward in mind for De Ligt.

“I’ve told him once or twice that there will be a bar of Swiss chocolate on his doorstep for his efforts,” he said. -AFP