Real Madrid 3-1 PSG (3-2 agg): Karim Benzema treble kills Mbappe dream
The French club crumbled just like they did against Barcelona in 2017
Karim Benzema’s remarkable second half hat-trick helped Real Madrid oust PSG from the Champions League.
The Spanish side looked down and out after the electric Kylian Mbappe netted, just as he did at the end of the first leg, and he had two more strikes ruled out for offside.
Lionel Messi and Neymar were quiet but with the young striker in such fine fettle they only had to play support roles. Until it was too late, that was.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were on autopilot and heading towards the quarter-finals but Madrid dumped them out thanks to Benzema’s special second half.
Gianluigi Donnarumma made a bad mistake under pressure from the Frenchman to let Madrid back in, with Vinicius Junior picking up the ball and squaring for Benzema to convert.
Then Luka Modric ploughed through PSG and eventually fed the striker for his second.
Benzema, 34, just moments later notched the third when Marquinhos made another mistake and passed the ball to him.
It was a mental fracturing from PSG reminiscent of the remontada Barcelona pulled off a little over five years ago.
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