Before the match commenced at Santiago Bernabeu, the hype of Lionel Messi returning to the venue was huge. Obviously, the media could not escape their biased attitude regarding Messi, and the majority of the news outlets dominated with the contents that hinted at a Messi show in the backyard of his once arch-rival. Sadly, the hype ended in tears.
There was a banner - ran behind the south goal - at the Bernabeu which read, "We are The Kings of Europe" and as the match entered into the critical phases, each and every word - written on the banner seemed to be true.
The match was dubbed as the show of Messi along with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar - but guess what, Santiago Bernabeu became the dancing stage for King Karim Benzema, who orchestrated an astonishing comeback.
Mbappe scored in the first half to put Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) two goals up on aggregate in the last-16 tie and then the King of Madrid, at present, Benzema, rose to the occasion.
His brilliant second-half hat-trick — including two in two crazy minutes — turned this game on its head after young pretender Mbappe had looked to have put the tie beyond Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Well, Ancelotti was left smiling in the end whereas Mauricio Pochettino was shattered along with Messi and co.
Lionel Messi has now gone nine straight games without scoring against the Los Blancos.
The night of Royal Whites - King Benzema
Thousands of Real Madrid fans had lined the streets around the stadium to welcome the team bus before the game. But despite the flares, the waved phones and the songs about their various Champions League conquests, there was a reticence every time the chant of ‘Yes we can’ went up.
For Real Madrid, it was a big task made more difficult by the absence of Casemiro and Ferland Mendy and the mere presence of the man they are convinced they will sign in the summer, Mbappe.
But belief grew at the start of the game when Vinicius Junior crossed for Marco Asensio and the forward saw his shot saved. Vinicius then dribbled inside and found Benzema, but Messi broke things up on the edge of the area and when he released Neymar, PSG were away.
Mbappe finished the move off but Courtois saved his shot.
Courtois saved again from PSG’s leading scorer, this time after he had capitalized on a mistake from Eder Militao. The goal was coming — all the warning signs were there.
Benzema curled a shot just wide of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s far post in a rare Madrid attack but with Messi pinging short passes into Mbappe, PSG were looking comfortable defensively and quietly dangerous in attack.
When Benzema robbed Donnarumma on his line, Vinicius latched on to the loose ball and gave it back to the Frenchman to score - Madrid were level.
PSG’s goalkeeper came out of his area to complain to referee Danny Makkelie but it seemed like a gesture born more of embarrassment than a belief that the decision would be changed.
Now the Bernabeu really believed and, with Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez’s energy from the bench, they were starting to test PSG’s defence. Benzema made it two when Luka Modric slipped him through after fine work from Vinicius.
His hat-trick, and the comeback, was completed straight from PSG’s kick-off when Vinicius bullied his Brazil team-mate Marquinhos into a mistake, inadvertently feeding Benzema — who made it three with another unerring finish.
He has been their saviour on more than one occasion this season – and in the previous one, too. His three goals on Wednesday bring his total to eight in the Champions League this season and 77 in his career (only Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski have more).
This season, he has 30 goals and 11 assists in 31 matches across all competitions. That’s 41 goal involvements in 31 matches, in a team that’s struggled to create chances for him, at the age of 34. This is Ballon d’Or territory.
The striker took full advantage of PSG’s complacency and errors.
How could Gianluigi Donnarumma give away the ball in the manner that he did on Madrid’s first goal?
What was Neymar doing with his terrible pass that led to the counterattack for the second goal? And what about Marquinhos’ assist for Benzema’s third?
These were schoolboy errors, but Benzema was there to punish the Parisians all the same.
Just when we thought there was a new prince in Madrid, the king struck three times to remind everyone that Santiago Bernabeu remains his castle.
The Luka Modric show
With age, Luka Modric is becoming better and better like a fine wine. He is still the marshall of Real Madrid midfield along with Toni Kroos and last night, PSG were given a lesson of how to run the show from the center of the park.
With the match well-poised, Modric stood outside the penalty area, on the edge of the D-box with Rodrygo Goes standing just to the right of him, but that’s not the ball he wants to play although he let the defence think it is. It’s Karim Benzema he was trying to reach. The trouble was that there were six blue shirts between him and his destination; a seventh nearby, too.
He starts to play the ball through the legs of Presnel Kimpembe - when all people around are losing their heads, Modric saw the pass and played it. And then: pandemonium. With one flick of the foot, he had taken out seven men.
Modric had done that before, too.
Nine seconds before.
Real Madrid’s second goal on Wednesday started with Modric winning the ball just outside his own team’s penalty area, and it ended with him passing it on from just outside Paris Saint-Germain’s.
He set the momentum and scene - dashing between Neymar and Messi, leaving them behind first and everyone was running in the same direction. There are four blue shirts on Modric trying to keep up, another just behind and two more fractionally to his left.
It’s 7-on-1, and none of them can catch him.
Vinicius runs and Modric does too, ready to join in again. Forty meters, 50 meters, 60 meters. When the Brazilian puts on the brakes, surrounded by PSG’s rapidly retreating players, defensive positions were taken up again, and he returns it to Modric.
And then, Benzema did the rest!
The PSG defenders had no answers!
Agony for PSG
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain have made a habit of crashing out in the Champions League in remarkable circumstances.
In 2017, the Parisians somehow blew a 4-0 aggregate lead to crash out to a Neymar-inspired Barcelona. The legend of ‘La Remontada’ was born.
Five years and one day later, they suffered a second defeat in Spain that was, in many ways, even more incredible.
When the chips were down at Santiago Bernabeu, they were unable to influence the game.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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