PSG

A 16-minute second-half hat-trick from Karim Benzema turns the tie on its head as Real Madrid come from behind against PSG to advance to the quarter-finals ...

Messi, so often a thorn in the side of Madrid, stands over the free-kick. He has thundered into the game in the second half a big reason why Madrid are in the driving seat The tie is level, and in fairness, it has been coming. Quite something to see a team of the calibre of Real Madrid unable to get a sniff of possession...and as I say that, they snatch the ball away. A timely intervention, but the striker seems a little shook from the challenge. Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale sit on the Madrid bench. It seems a tall order now for Madrid to score at least two goals, while also keeping Messi/Neymar/Mbappe quiet at the other end. Kylian Mbappe with a wonderful Kylian Mbappe-like goal! Mbappe has scored...but no, he hasn't! VAR is called into play and the goal won't count. PSG goalkeeper Donnarumma gets the feintest of fingertips to the ball, but it is a crucial intervention to tip Karim Benzema's curling effort from distance past the post. Courtois down again, this time to his left, as Neymar's shot is dragged in the area. They will need to be much sharper tonight, and Toni Kroos, who comes into the game with concerns over his hamstring, likely to be a greater influence than he was in Paris.

Karim Benzema who struck a second half hat-trick to complete a stunning Real Madrid comeback and send the La Liga side into the Champions League ...

Modric was the architect of the second, starting a break from deep in side his own half and supporting teh attack before playing a superb pass for Benzema who finished ruthlessly. Vinicius pounced on the loose ball and played back for Benzema to finish from eight yards out. There was certainly an urgency to their efforts after the break while Pochettino’s side appeared unable to shut down a game that became increasingly open as both teams traded blows. The answer was no, with Mbappe adding to his first leg goal six minutes before the interval, and shortly after the forward had had an effort ruled out for offside. That was another warning for Real, and in particular the Belgium keeper. Benzema, though, was not to be overshadowed, drawing his side level on the night before taking advantage as PSG unravelled alarming by scoring two goals in two minutes to completely shift the balance of the tie.

Of course it happened again. Because if there's one thing you can be sure of in the Champions League, it's that PSG just need a gentle push and they fall ...

You have to overcome the biggest obstacle, which is being able to take the pressure and take it off your players. Let's get Europa. There's too many last-16 games to list in full here, but the double bill of Sevilla vs. It's not a particularly healthy way to watch football, looking at the present for the traces of the history that will be written in the future, but sometimes it's unavoidable. With goals like this, the ones that are either precisely floated pieces of angular genius or, perhaps, overhit crosses, how about we just all give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker? This ‘preferential option for the fan’ imbues Bielsa’s account of football fandom with an inherent localism." You see yourself and sometimes you like what you see more than others, but the conclusion I’ve reached is I am what I am. More likely, you suspect, we'll be looking at something like: "This was the night that Mbappé knew for sure that whatever was happening at PSG, whatever kept happening to PSG, he had to get out." But there he is and there PSG go, into the long lingering twilight of another collapse that was at once shocking and damningly familiar. Now it's just a question of waiting to see how it resolves. There he is, holding a plastic foldaway chair, waving a plastic foldaway chair, saluting the Bernabéu with a plastic foldaway chair. And then that 10 seconds: where's the ball, where's the ball, why is it here, what's going on, oh nooooooo. But one of the worst parts is: they'd done the difficult bit.