March 10 – PSG and the fabled Messi-Neymar-Mbappe trio are out of the Champions League after Karim Benzema masterminded a dramatic 3-1 victory for Real Madrid to progress to the last eight of the European Cup, 3-2 on aggregate.
With Ligue 1 looking like a weekly footnote in the global game and the PSG project always motivated by the sole goal of winning the Champions League, PSG’s season came crashing down in spectacular fashion on Wednesday when Benzema scored a hat trick to reverse PSG’s 1-0 advantage from the first leg.
Even at half-time, the French had looked in total control when Kylian Mbappe, who also scored PSG’s goal in the first leg, got on the scoreboard. However Real Madrid’s midfield maestro Modric and Benzema turned the match around. It had seemed impossible for PSG to lose and yet again the Parisians found a way.
Benzema, excelling in his positioning and link-up play, scored his hat trick in the space of 19 minutes in the second half, prompting a complete PSG meltdown, an all too familiar sight in the Champions League.
In the dying minutes of the game, Lionel Messi’s free-kick clipped the crossbar, but PSG didn’t deserve a second goal.
“Explaining what happened is easy, Donnarumma was fouled on the first goal and that changed everything,” said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino.
“It’s hard not to talk about this big refereeing mistake, which I don’t understand and won’t forgive. I don’t understand why the referee didn’t call VAR. From this action, everything changed in the stadium, our players were upset, even if we must recognize that we made mistakes. But when emotion gets involved, football changes completely. I am very angry and frustrated by this situation. This is the worst that could happen to us. We lost the game in ten minutes. For me, Benzema’s fault on Donnarumma is a mistake and that changed everything.”
The result will leave PSG devastated. They signed Messi, Sergio Ramos, Donnarumma, Giorgio Wijnaldum and held on to Mbappe to launch an all-out assault on the Champions League, but once again bottled it in lethargic fashion.
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