Karim Benzema: ‘Real Madrid is alive and we can beat anyone’
Karim Benzema was named man of the match in Real Madrid’s spectacular comeback against PSG at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Benzema hat-trick stuns PSG as Real Madrid make epic comeback. PSG were cruising at 2-0 up on aggregate after Kylian Mbappe’s 39th-minute strike.
For an hour the Paris club looked assured of a last-eight berth, but Benzema turned the tie on its head with three goals in 17 minutes as Real swept to a 3-1 win and 3-2 aggregate triumph.
Even by PSG’s standards, this was an epic collapse, five years to the day since Barcelona overturned a 4-0 last-16 first-leg deficit against them by winning 6-1 at Camp Nou.
Lionel Messi and Neymar were in Barcelona colours that day, but both were on the receiving end this time, unable to rid PSG of their habit of crumbling when it matters most.
Madrid’s comeback may not have matched that night in Barcelona for scale or drama—Benzema’s winner came in the 78th minute not the 95th and Madrid came from two behind, not four—but the impact might be greater.
In the year of the controversial World Cup in Qatar, Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were stitched together with limitless resources from the oil-rich Gulf state to win the Champions League, not crash out in the last 16.
Defeat throws Mauricio Pochettino’s future as coach into serious doubt, raises further questions about Messi’s departure from Barca and prolongs the Qatari-owned club’s wait for that elusive European crown, despite more than a billion euros splurged on transfers.
Mbappe (39′), Benzema (61′, 76′, 78′)
