PSG vs Real Madrid LIVE: Champions League result, final score and reaction tonight

Follow live coverage as PSG and Real Madrid meet in a battle of European heavyweights with both hoping to put one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals

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Eventually, Paris Saint-Germain get there, maybe before Kylian Mbappe goes there. There was certainly a level of genius about how he got into this space.

You couldn’t quite say the French star stole the game given how utterly dominant his team were, but he did steal the show.

Mbappe’s mercurial stoppage-time winner gave PSG a deserved 1-0 win over a dismally defensive Real Madrid, to also ensure Leo Messi’s saved penalty did not have the same cost.

That is always the risk you run when you try and play it so safe. It was an inevitability of Madrid being so conservative, and perhaps an inevitability of the fact this was the first Champions League knock-out tie since the abolition of the away goal rule.

Madrid apparently had no interest in scoring one. It’s also possible, however, that they had no means of scoring one.

The entire match was one grand display of why this stale team so badly need Mbappe. It may well change the future. Follow all the latest reaction and analysis here:

PSG vs Real Madrid

• Real Madrid and PSG’s Champions League clash a part of wider power struggle in elite football
• Casemiro picks up yellow card to leave him suspended for the second leg in March
• Messi penalty saved by Courtois after Mbappe fouled in the box
• Mbappe nets injury-time winner after brilliant solo run
• PSG seal narrow first-leg victory against Real Madrid

[15 February 2022 18:46 · Karl Matchett]

PSG vs Real Madrid - Confirmed line-ups

Real Madrid went early tonight, naming their starting XI for the game at the Parc des Princes - and the big news is Karim Benzema is fit and fine to play.

For PSG, Angel Di Maria stays in the side and Danilo and Paredes both start - no Gini Wijnaldum or Neymar in the side for Mauricio Pochettino. No Sergio Ramos against his old side, either.

PSG XI: Donnarumma, Hakimi, Kimpembe, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Verratti, Paredes, Danilo, Mbappe, Di Maria, Messi

Real XI: Courtois, Carvajal, Miltao, Alaba, Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius Jr

[15 February 2022 18:37 · Karl Matchett]

PSG vs Real Madrid - team news ahead of Champions League fixture tonight

Real Madrid will be hoping key forward Karim Benzema is fit to return for their Champions League last-16 match against PSG on Tuesday night, while PSG themselves are hoping the same is true of Neymar.

Both clubs are top of their respective domestic leagues, Real with a four-point lead in LaLiga and PSG a massive 13 clear in Ligue 1.

All the latest team news - plus TV information, odds and everything else you need to know ahead of the game - are right here:

[15 February 2022 18:32 · Karl Matchett]

Real Madrid and PSG’s Champions League clash a part of wider power struggle in elite football

As Florentino Perez and Nasser Al-Khelaifi sit down for their customary dinner before tonight’s Champions League tie between Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, they will have more to discuss than usual.

There is, most prominently, Kylian Mbappe’s pending move between the clubs. Perez will doubtless ask about Mbappe, but Al-Khelaifi might well enquire about Zinedine Zidane. There is a widespread expectation in the game that the French legend will be the next PSG manager, with many thinking it will be as early as this summer, when Paul Pogba will almost certainly arrive on a free.

The midfielder has been a long-time Madrid player target, and the situation could well free another long-time Madrid managerial target, in Mauricio Pochettino.

All of this illustrates how there is arguably more crossover between Madrid and PSG than any two clubs in Europe, as well as a lot of shared and competing interests. Perez and Al-Khelaifi have a much better relationship than many would expect, and have shared advice on how they deal with the challenges of the modern game, but such a crossover is inevitable as they find themselves on either side of the most significant divide in elite football.

Miguel Delaney explains the huge battle at the top of the European game:

[15 February 2022 18:21 · Karl Matchett]

Uefa partnership with cryptocurrency fan token company branded ‘incomprehensible’

Uefa’s decision to partner with a company selling cryptocurrency fan tokens has been described as “incomprehensible” by Football Supporters Europe.

A day after being praised for giving away tickets to its men’s and women’s club competition finals, European football’s governing body has been heavily criticised over a new agreement with Socios.com.

The sale of fan tokens – which can rise and fall in value – has been criticised as a means of monetising fan engagement, in a largely unregulated market.

FSE condemned the partnership, which sees Socios.com become Uefa’s official fan token partner, and tweeted: “This is an incomprehensible move at a time when football needs protection from crypto-mercenaries.

“Governing bodies have a duty to protect the integrity & sustainability of football & everyone associated with it.

“There are countless ways to properly engage with fans. Encouraging fans to invest in ‘fan tokens’ isn’t one of them. They only serve the interests of those selling them.”

Full report here: