Real Madrid 3-1 PSG: No lessons learned for the French

LACHAMPIONS | Real Madrid - PSG (3-1) — El Real Madrid dio la vuelta al gol inicial de Rabiot y visitará París con una clara ventaja en la eliminatoria / | BEINSPORTS

German Bona

14/02/2018 Upd. at 23:48 CET

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice and Marcelo grabbed the third, after Rabiot had opened the scoring

Real Madrid may be in crisis in La Liga but in the Champions League they put one foot into the quarter-finals as Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in a 3-1 win over PSG at the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

MATCH FACTS

Champions League, octavos de final ida

Real Madrid

3 ________________ 1

París Saint-Germain

LINE UP

Real Madrid

Keylor Navas; Nacho, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Casemiro (Lucas Vázquez, 79'), Modric, Kroos, Isco (Marco Asensio, 79'); Cristiano Ronaldo y Benzema (Bale, 67').

PSG

Areola; Dani Alves, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Yuri; Lo Celso (Draxler, 85'), Verratti, Rabiot; Mbappé, Cavani (Meunier, 65') y Neymar.

Goles

0-1 m.33 Rabiot. 1-1 M.44 Cristiano Ronaldo (pen.). 2-1 M.83 Cristiano Ronaldo. 3-1 M.86 Marcelo.

Árbitro

Gianluca Rocchi (Italia). TA: Neymar (14'), Lo Celso (25'), Isco (32'), Rabiot (63'), Nacho (78').

Incidencias

Partido de la ida de los octavos de final de la Champions League disputado en el Santiago Bernabéu.

Los Blancos fell behind when Adrien Rabiot slammed home in the first half after the visitors impressed in the opening stages, with Neymar bright and intent on causing mayhem on his return to Spanish soil after his record move from Barcelona to Paris in August.

However he could not find the final ball despite several threatening dribbles and after Rabiot struck Ronaldo equalised on the stroke of half-time. Giovani Lo Celso tugged back Toni Kroos in the box and the German flung himself to the floor and a penalty was awarded.

Ronaldo dispatched it brutally, powering his effort past the helpless Alphonse Areola, who did well to deny the forward earlier in the half with his face.

The second half was evenly-matched but, just as against Barcelona last season at Camp Nou, PSG gave up the ghost late on. Marco Asensio, adding pace from the left as a substitute, crossed and Areola deflected the ball away, with Ronaldo in the right place to nudge home with his thigh. The forward might not have known much about it, but it was undoubtedly his goal and potentially a crucial one.