Real Madrid managed to deal with Paris Saint-Germain on a blood-curdling evening at the Santiago Bernabéu. The Royal started with a 1-0 deficit from the first game and again ran into problems because of Kylian Mbappé, who brought PSG to a comfortable 0-1 halftime. Almost out of the blue, Real Madrid hit back after the break: Karim Benzema made three in a row and shot the Spaniards to the last eight in the Champions League: 3-1.
Danny Makkelie entered the field on Wednesday evening as arbitrator with Kylian Mbappé in his wake. The PSG star was doubtful after a scare in training, but just appeared at the kick-off. This allowed Pochettino to set up his strongest possible formation, with the coach again favoring Leandro Paredes over Idrissa Gana Gueye. At Real, Ancelotti had to replace the suspended Ferland Mendy and Casemiro: Nacho and Federico Valverde joined the team at Real.
Real stormed towards PSG’s goal in the opening phase, but never became dangerous for a moment. Within the first fifteen minutes, Mbappé broke through twice on the other side of the penalty area, especially the last time in excellent shooting position. Thibaut saved Courtois twice, who also intervened quite easily a little later with a shot by Neymar. On the other side, Karim Benzema fired a ball out of nowhere towards the far intersection; Gianluigi Donnarumma prevented a brilliant goal with his fingertips.
GOAL! Who else but Kylian Mbappe does it for PSG: 0-1. The Frenchman puts Real Madrid in trouble! The Spaniards now have to make two for an extension. #RMAPSG #UCL pic.twitter.com/W4ifHjsy8D
— VTBL ? (@vtbl) March 9, 2022
Yet it was mainly PSG that showed itself. After half an hour of play, a wonderful attack – built up from our own back line – ended with a dangerous marker from Lionel Messi, who could not reach anyone at the second post. The difference was made in the first half by Mbappé, who first saw a striking bang in the short corner disallowed due to offside by declarant Nuno Mendes. Shortly afterwards, Mbappe was launched into the depths by a perfect pass from Neymar, after which the former face to face with last defender David Alaba decided to kill the short corner from fifteen meters: 0-1.
Shortly after the break, Mbappe tricked Courtois again with an improbable body movement, but his new goal was rightly canceled due to offside. Out of nowhere, Donnarumma gave away the equalizer after an hour, by hesitating under pressure from Benzema with kicking the ball away. Vinícius Júnior took advantage of the PSG goalkeeper’s weak kick and put in front of Benzema from the back line, who simply typed in: 1-1. Immediately afterwards, the Frenchman had the next goal on the head, but aimed just wide. Real kept pressing and Vinícius luckily received the ball from the mess at the feet deep in the penalty area. A huge opportunity for the Brazilian, who shot from the rump.
Karim Benzema The robber just makes three and suddenly the Royals insist continue ?? What a phenomenal match this is! †#ZiggoSport #UCL #RMAPSG pic.twitter.com/jEpqBtOoeS
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) March 9, 2022
PSG showed more and more vulnerabilities, which Benzema took advantage of. The captain was first served by a through pass from Luka Modric and shot through the sliding Marquinhos: 2-1. Things got even worse for the PSG defender, who unfortunately shoved the ball into Benzema’s feet three minutes later while clearing. The Frenchman completed his evening by hitting the ball mercilessly with the outside of his foot: 3-1.