Real Madrid vs PSG LIVE: Champions League result and final score after Karim Benzema hat-trick
Relive all the action as two of Europe’s footballing heavyweights met in an epic encounter
Karim Benzema’s sensational second-half treble sent Real Madrid through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Paris St Germain.
The 2020 runners-up looked set for a place in the last eight at half-time with Kylian Mbappe on target again having scored the only goal at Parc des Princes last month.
Fellow Frenchman Benzema stole the show though with a hat-trick after the break and his final two goals were separated by just 106 seconds in a 3-1 win that left Mauricio Pochettino’s men stunned with the pressure now ramped up on the former Tottenham boss.
Relive all the action from the Bernabeu:
Real Madrid 0 - 0 PSG (0-1 agg)
3 mins: Dani Carvajal brings the ball down the right wing and guides a decent pass into the middle of the box. Marco Asensio gets the ball but can’t work it into space for a shot and PSG boot it clear.
Eder Militao and Toni Kroos both attempt to get to the clearance in the air and clash heads as they collide with each other.
Real Madrid 0 - 0 PSG (0-1 agg)
Kick off: Real Madrid get the game underway with a threaded pass up through the PSG lines. Vinicius Junior makes a run across from the left to try and recover the ball but doesn’t get there before Gianluigi Donnarumma scoops it up safely inside his 18-yard box.
Real Madrid vs PSG
The team congregate on the steps inside the Bernabeu’s tunnel. PSG bring a one-goal advantage into the match, can they hold on to it and reach the next stage or will Real Madrid triumph here again?
There’s a big cheer as the players walk out onto the pitch. Kick off is up next...
PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino underlines love for ‘special club’ Tottenham
Mauricio Pochettino underlined his love for “special club” Tottenham Hotspur as the Paris St Germain manager continues to be linked with the Manchester United vacancy.
The 50-year-old swapped Southampton for Spurs in 2014 and enjoyed five memorable seasons in north London, including leading them to the 2019 Champions League final.
Pochettino left the club early in the 2019/20 season as a club great and was linked with a swift return to Tottenham, but his next destination looks more likely to be United right now.
Mauricio Pochettino underlines love for ‘special club’ Tottenham
The 50-year-old enjoyed five memorable seasons in north London, including leading them to the 2019 Champions League final
Real Madrid, PSG and the eternal struggle to control European football’s future
Mauricio Pochettino, naturally, was looking to what next. The Paris Saint-Germain manager was offering a mission statement during his press conference at the Santiago Bernabeu, but was more concerned about the training session that followed, and how Kylian Mbappe would react.
The forward was carrying a knock, but seemed to come through fine. It meant he could look around the great stadium a little more freely, with a little more excitement to the air. That isn’t just related to Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 return leg.
It is about much more, as tends to often happen with this competition.
For a trophy that is so prestigious, where everyone in football just wants to live the moment of lifting it, it is remarkable how so many Champions League ties are actually about seasons to come; Champions Leagues to be won in the future.
Real Madrid, PSG and the eternal struggle to control European football’s future
Kylian Mbappe gave the French side the lead in the first leg, but with the Super League back on the table, this Champions League tie goes far beyond the second leg at the Bernabeu
Real Madrid vs PSG
Paris have scored two or more goals in six of their previous nine away games in the Champions League round of 16. Will these three help them do so again tonight?
Real Madrid vs PSG
The Santiago Bernabeu is completely sold out for tonight’s game. Both managers are under huge pressure to make it through to the next stage of the competition but only one can get there.
Will it be PSG’s Mauricio Pochettino? His players are out for the warm-ups.
Real Madrid vs PSG
With 30 goals scored, Edinson Cavani remains PSG’s record scorer in the Champions League, but Kylian Mbappe is closing in with 26 goals scored in Europe since 2017.
Mbappe has scored 24 goals in all competitions this season, including five in the Champions League, and has scored at least once in PSG’s last three European matches.
Real Madrid vs PSG
Mauricio Pochettino spoke about his gamplan going into tonight’s match against Real Madrid, focusing on how to control possession in PSG’s own half. He said:
Real Madrid will be aggressive, try to press very hard. We need players who can manage that situation, feel comfortable on the ball in our own half. Paredes can provide this to the team.
“The idea is to dominate the game, to force them to play in their own half. We need to match them in terms of aggressiveness and attitude. I think we can do that because we have players who can dominate and play good football.”
Real Madrid vs PSG: Momentum builds behind second Super League plot
Paris Saint-Germain have offered Kylian Mbappe a contract that amounts to €100m (£83.2m) a year, in what would be the biggest individual player deal football has ever seen. Real Madrid are naturally aware of this, as well as the fact they can’t currently get anywhere close to such an offer. The Spanish club have consequently attempted to play on other motivations. Mbappe’s camp have been told he may be giving up the chance to ever turn out for Europe’s “greatest football institution”, as Madrid have pointed to their history, as well as their potential future.
That future may well bring offers of that magnitude if Florentino Perez has his way. The Madrid president is newly bullish about his European Super League, and its potential rewards. Given how entrenched Paris Saint-Germain have become in the European establishment, with club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi having used the last Super League debacle to strengthen his own position, the situation adds even greater edge to Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg. It is possible that the shame of elimination to PSG could further fire Perez. Uefa’s perceived failure in tackling the state-owned clubs is already a significant motivation behind the project. A new momentum has built.
Momentum builds behind second Super League plot
The truth for the game is the Super League project never really went away and with a key court case looming the future of football in Europe could soon look a lot different
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