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Champions League Round of 16: PSG 1-2 Real Madrid - 5 Talking Points

Real Madrid v Paris Saint-Germain - UEFA Champions League Round of 16: First Leg
Zidane made several changes to the lineup

Zinedine Zidane made huge changes for the second leg by not including Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Gareth Bale.

However, with Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez in the side, Real Madrid had the plan of playing on the counter.

The first half of the game was equally matched with both sides creating the similar amount of chances.

The second half started of perfectly for Real, with Cristiano Ronaldo heading in the 51st minute from a Vazquez cross.

Marco Verratti ruined the chances for his team when he received a second yellow for dissent.

However, Edinson Cavani pulled a goal back in the 71st minute to give PSG a ray of hope of staging a comeback with the scoreline 4-2 on aggregate still in favour of the away side.

But all hopes, of any comeback for the Parisiens, had vanished when Casemiro scored following a deflection of Marquinhos.

Real Madrid won the game 5-2 on aggregate ensuring a smooth progress to the quarterfinals whereas for Paris Saint Germain, it was a repeat of previous campaigns and once again they ended up coming short in the Champions League.

Here are the five talking points from the game:


#5 An even first half

Paris Saint-Germain v Celtic FC - UEFA Champions League
Mbappe was at fault for squandering a glorious chance

Despite the lack of chances created, it was a pretty equally contested first 45 minutes. Real Madrid possessed the greater threat going forward, especially on the counter-attack.

Kovacic was proving to be very rash and careless in his challenges and deservingly got a yellow card.

Meanwhile, two great chances were missed by players of either team.

First, Karim Benzema was put through one on one with Alphonse Areola but he was denied by the French goalkeeper.

However, the best opportunity for PSG to take the lead was late in the first half, when Kylian Mbappe squandered the chance to put the ball across to Cavani but instead selfishly took the shot upon himself from a tight angle which was eventually saved by Keylor Navas.

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