Qatari-backed PSG bites the dust
Real Madrid beat the French club to move into the CL quarter-finals.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro got the goals for Real Madrid as the holders won 2-1 away to a Paris Saint-Germain side missing Neymar to secure their place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Ronaldo had scored twice — including his 100th goal for Real in the competition — 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 of progressing.
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 spectacular collapse against Barcelona in the last 16, when they were humiliated 6-1 away in the return after a stunning 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 from a foot operation, 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.
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. —