Ronaldo scores as Real advance
Secondhalf strikes from Ronaldo and Casemiro help Spanish side beat PSG
PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro got the goals for Real Madrid as the holders won 2-1 away to a Paris Saint-Germain side to secure their place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Ronaldo had scored twice as they won 3-1 in the first leg in Spain last month, and his header early in the second half at the Parc des Princes effectively ended the French club’s hopes.
Edinson Cavani equalised on the night for PSG, but only after they had Marco Verratti sent off, and Casemiro’s late goal secured an ultimately comprehensive 5-2 aggregate victory for Zinedine Zidane’s side.
“We played well right from the beginning, pressing them high up the field. It was a perfect match. This is not an easy place to come and play well,” said Zidane.
PSG never looked like turning the tie around in the absence of the injured Neymar, and it was a horribly flat way for them to exit the competition.
“It was in the first leg that we lost the tie. We are all disappointed that things did not go as we hoped,” Adrien Rabiot told beIN Sports.
“We controlled the game well in the first half but couldn’t get the goal to make them doubt themselves, and once we were down to 10 men it became impossible.”
As they limp out, Real’s dream of becoming the first team in more than 40 years to win three successive European Cups remains alive. A year after their collapse against Barcelona in the last 16, when they were humiliated 6-1 away in the return after a 4-0 win at home, PSG had hoped to produce a memorable comeback themselves this time.
Yet, shorn of the world’s most expensive player, who is back in Brazil recuperating, they struggled to create chances, and the night will also be remembered for the stupidity of a section of their supporters.
Flares were lit en masse on several occasions at one end of the ground, once even leading to a brief stoppage in play, and PSG will face punishment from UEFA as a result.
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We controlled the game well in the first half but couldn’t score to make them doubt, and once we went down to 10 men it became impossible. ADRIAN RABIOT, PSG Player
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DI MARIA FLOPS
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We played well right from the beginning, pressing them high. It was a perfect match. This is not an easy place to come and play well.
ZINEDINE ZIDANE, Real Manager
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To be eliminated in the last 16 is a disappointment, but to lose against Real Madrid is not. They deserved to go through.
UNAI EMERY, PSG Manager
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Maybe tonight they weren’t so good, but it’s also because we played well. Obviously it became harder for them when we scored the second goal.
ZINEDINE ZIDANE , on PSG
Without Neymar, this was Angel Di Maria’s big chance to shine after he was left on the bench for the entirety of the first leg, but nothing came off for the Argentine against his former side, his performance symbolic of a wider malaise in the home ranks.
They had only made Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas work once in the first half, from Kylian Mbappe’s shot in the 43rd minute.
In contrast, Alphonse Areola had kept the home side in the game with two fine saves to deny Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema before the interval.
That just delayed the inevitable. Having come close with a header moments earlier, Ronaldo broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, heading in a Lucas Vazquez cross.
The tie had escaped them before Verratti was sent off midway through the second half, picking up a second yellow card for dissent.
Substitute Javier Pastore’s header deflected into the net off Cavani in the 71st minute to level the scores on the night, but more poor defending allowed Real to make it 2-1 with 10 minutes left.
Unable to clear their lines in
their own area, PSG saw Casemiro’s shot go in via a Marquinhos deflection.
With Marco Asensio and Isco both hitting the post in the second half, the visitors more than deserved their win. That rubbed more salt into the wounds for PSG, who had not lost any of their previous 51 home games, a run going back two years to before the start of Unai Emery’s reign.