Champions League UCL
Real Madrid vs PSG 3-1: Benzema Hat-trick Knocks PSG Messi Out of Champions League
Real Madrid vs PSG 3-1: Benzema Hat-Trick Knocks PSG Messi Out of Champions League. Donnarumma’s mistake was punished by the French striker.
FULL TIME: Real Madrid 3-1 (3-2) PSG
Well, what a match! PSG looked almost certain to go through after leading 2-0 on aggregate at half time, thanks to Kylian Mbappe’s first-half goal, but Karim Benzema’s second-half hat-trick has sent Real Madrid through to the quarter-finals.
Karim Benzema is now the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the #UCL era (34 years, 80 days).
🇫🇷 Karim Benzema = oldest player to score a hat-trick in the #UCL era (34 years, 80 days) 👏 pic.twitter.com/B0k9aCuZzX
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 9, 2022
Minute 90+1: Messi free-kick whistles over
Messi’s free-kick towards the top right corner hit the roof of the netting. Will that be PSG’s last chance to send this to extra time?
Minute 89: Modric misses the top corner
Luka Modric has been excellent in the last 20 minutes and just weaved his way past a couple of PSG players before sending his shot just wide of the top left corner.
Minute 86: Rodrygo free-kick blocked
Rodrygo’s free-kick from the edge of the box was blocked by the wall and then sent wide by the Real Madrid forward. PSG are all over the place here.
Minute 78: GOAL FOR REAL MADRID!
Real Madrid pressed PSG from the kick-off and Marquinhos’ loose pass went straight to Benzema, who hit a first-time shot into the back of the net. Real Madrid are going through as things stand! Real Madrid 3-1 (3-2) PSG.
Minute 76: GOAL FOR REAL MADRID!
Karim Benzema has scored again to draw Real Madrid level in the tie. Luka Modric won the ball back on the edge of his own box and carried it forward before picking out Vinicius, who returned it the Croatian, who found Benzema. The Frenchman then sent a shot towards goal that deflected off of Marquinhos and went in. Real Madrid 2-1 (2-2) PSG.
Minute 61: GOAL FOR REAL MADRID!
Really poor stuff by Donnarumma. Karim Benzema put the PSG goalkeeper under severe pressure and forced him to make a poor pass, which went straight to Vinicius, who found Benzema. The Frenchman then kept his cool to fire into the back of the net. Real Madrid 1-1 (1-2) PSG.
HALF TIME: Real Madrid 0-1 (0-2) PSG
Kylian Mbappe’s goal is all that separates the two at the half-time break. After a strong start by Real Madrid, PSG grew into the match and have looked very impressive at times. Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marco Verratti, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Mbappe have been particularly impressive for the visitors.
Minute 45+2: Another couple of chances for PSG
Neymar and Mbappe had a couple of half chances to extend PSG’s lead in the final moments of the first half, but the Brazilian’s effort was blocked and the Frenchman’s header from Verratti’s cross was easily saved by Courtois.
Minute 43: Nacho and Vinicius booked
Nacho Fernandez has been shown a yellow card for cynically bringing down Achraf Hakimi. Vinicius Junior was shown a yellow in the aftermath for his complaints, too.
Minute 39: GOAL FOR PSG!
PSG have taken the lead through – you guessed it – Mbappe. A devastating counter-attack saw Neymar play a first-time pass in behind for Mbappe, who sized up Alaba and then made it look like he was going towards the far post, but instead he went near and beat Courtois. Real Madrid 0-1 (0-2) PSG.
Whether he goes to Manchester United remains to be seen – it certainly helps with his availability – as they may have looked on alarmingly as this tie, with PSG in total control thanks to Kylian Mbappe, was turned on its head.
Karim Benzema has listened to debates as to whether Mbappe or Robert Lewandowski or Mohamed Salah is now the best forward in the world and responded with this: a remarkable second-half hat-trick as the 34-year-old so improbably drove Real into the quarter-finals.
Going out of the Champions League at this stage will probably also drive Mbappe closer to Real with the Spanish giants confident he will join them when his contract runs out. It probably also saved Real coach Carlo Ancelotti and there were huge ramifications everywhere.
PSG only have themselves to blame although that blame will probably largely fall on Pochettino who failed to arrest the turnaround after Real were gifted a way back into this tie through an awful blunder by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. What a comeback and what a capitulation.
There were 60,000 back in the Bernabeu, as Covid restrictions were eased, and it felt like more. It certainly felt like more in the manic, massed streets around the re-modelled stadium and that intensity steepled as kick-off closed in.
When the teams were read out there was a cheer from the Madridistas for Mbappe who they feel is destined to join their club next season even as PSG fight to persuade him to sign a contract extension and stay for at least one more year.
He twice served notice of a different kind. Firstly, he was set running down the left by Neymar – after Messi won the ball back on the edge of the PSG penalty area – with Thibaut Courtois blocking his low shot and then he pounced on a mistake by Eder Militao. This time the angle was better but again Courtois saved.
He served notice again. This time it was ruled out for offside in the build-up. And then he scored. It was a sumptuous finish, another example of how he just seems quicker, sharper even against exalted defenders such as David Alaba. It came as Real pressed with Dani Carvajal losing possession and Neymar sweeping a fine first-time pass down the left. Mbappe was five yards inside his own half and then he was five yards ahead of Militao and bearing down on Alaba before deceiving Courtois, opening up his body, giving the goalkeeper ‘the eyes’, with a thunderous finish inside his near post. The Bernabeu was stunned; deflated. How they covet him and how they feared this. Mbappe just seems to play at double the speed of everyone else. Ancelotti chewed his gum ever more fiercely.
“Somos los Reyes de Europa” (We are the kings of Europe) read a huge banner unfurled along the length of the south stand as a reminder of Real’s pedigree in this competition, as 13-time winners, but the threat was coming from PSG after an initial storm whipped up by Vinicius Junior and the crown was slipping. Tactically PSG were on top with Messi dropping deep to be their creator-in-chief.
Still, before Mbappe scored, Real will reflect on a superb save by Gianluigi Donnarumma, preferred ahead of Keylor Navas who was desperate to face his former club and looked visibly upset on the bench, as he dived to his left to finger-tip a first-time from Karim Benzema around the post after Marquinhos has sloppily lost possession. Later Benzema would be picked out but could only steer his header wide as the frustration grew among the Real fans who feared this was slipping away.
Meanwhile when Mbappe put the ball out of play with David Alaba lying on the turf some Real fans gave him a standing ovation. It must have been painful watching him tear them apart and knowing, tantalisingly, that he could be theirs.
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3-3 draw between Manchester United and Galatasaray in UEFA Champions League – Group A. They also analyze the performance of goalkeeper Andre Onana and the chances of Erik ten Hag’s side of advancing to the knockout stages.
Not saying Onana is done at Utd but surely ETH needs to give the back up a chance at this point. Even DDG needed to come out of the team briefly when he first came to the club. Gives him a chance to build his confidence away from the spot light. But TBH DDG was never this bad to begin with sm
Throwing away leads, basic mistakes and tonight, despite Onana performing better recently we might as well have had Jonny Evans in goal.
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As much as I like eth, he caused our exit by bringing in a keeper not too familiar with EPL. In fact he should not have sent David away the way he did. He should have kept him and the duo should have competed. Onana errors contributed a lot to the exit
Tactically, I think ETH did pretty much everything correctly. Outside of Magelof not being good enough in general, the only criticism I can offer is that Mainoo should’ve come on for McGhost after he scored his goal. Solidify that midfield and shut everything down.
Credit/Getty Images: Andre Onana VS David De Gea – Who Is Better
The keeper had a bad game and had a lot already this season which isn’t great but let’s hope he gets better as the season goes cause I remember when De Gea first came to United and he was not great as well but he matured, got stronger and became a great goalkeeper. But ETH needs to replace Onana for the next game and let him know that he needs to step it up.
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As a United fan I have to disagree with the assessment of the performance. There was no control, no maturity. United give the ball away far too easily for this level. When you have less possession than a Sean Dyche team and then get 43% against Galatasaray, you’re not the technical side the manager wants to build. I feel sorry for Onana, he’s been doing much better recently. The mistakes he’s making are so basic it speaks to a mental problem. My hope is that Onana will feel much more comfortable when we develop into the team Ten Hag wants. Need to bring in ball-playing CBs and controller midfielders in the next two windows. Then we’ll see the real picture.
I honestly hope we finish bottom of the group so they can just focus on the domestic front. This team is poor to say the least and we will get knocked out in the second round even if we scale through by some miracle. So best not to, as for “O na na, whats my name” Don called it! He needs to reassess his priorities as a goalkeeper… now I’m ranting on YouTube, darn you ManUtd!
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Can David de Gea be the short-term fix Manchester United needs? | If I was him I wouldn’t go back there after the way he was disrespected .. I can’t believe the management could be this bold and daft after the treatment they gave that guy.
Don’t do it!!! They decided you weren’t good enough and decided to get onana. Even if you took a pay cut, it would of been to facilitate onana. That’s tells you what you need to know
Of course teams have offered him contacts and he’s chosen to say no. He’s said very clearly he’ll go to club fighting to win things and unfortunately all the top clubs have keepers. He might come back when the right club wants him.
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Wonder if Man U is telling Onana to skip the African cup due to his recent poor performances. Otherwise they’re telling him his spot is at risk
United have no transfer strategy so this potential move makes 100% sense. Afterall they bought Mason Mount for 50 million to warm the bench.
Onana/getty images/
It will be a mess and destabilising if we bring him back.. Shoking how he was treated after 12 years. And we bought a young goalkeeper, surely he gets a chance and we still have Heaton I believe.. What’s the point anymore? 😆 We’re a joke!
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De Gea deserved better treatment. He should plain down reject any offer or entertain the offer just to reject it. The Man Utd negotiators could not negotiate their way out of a brown paper bag, absolutely disgrace to their profession.
If they bring him back prep for a new manager. Cause ten hag is clearly incompetent.
And he’s been offered but he won’t take less than what he is worth, he’s a golden glove winner and a legend 🤷🏽. Onana can’t even distribute this season and can’t stop a beach ball.
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It’s a strange one this because de Gea priced himself out of a job. He wanted a contract worth more than than the £375k a week he was already getting, and Man United originally agreed to one, and then changed their mind, and I don’t blame them. He’s worth $75 million thanks to MUFC.
He was the World’s richest goalkeeper last season, and while he is a great goalkeeper, most pundits would name either Nuer or the recently retired Buffon as the greatest goalkeeper of the last 15 years, and most pundits would put the Brazilian duo Ederson and Becker as the best keepers in the Prem right now. What I’m saying is that at $75 million net worth de Gea could have afforded to be philosophical about it all and perhaps taken a pay cut.
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Christian Eriksen joins Peter Schmeichel for a post-game interview after a Man of the Match performance after Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Copenhagen. Eriksen came in as a second-half substitute and assisted Harry Maguire’s game-winning goal.
Still can’t believe Eriksen plays for Man United, especially after we all know what happened to him. I still remember that day and honestly thought we’d lost him. So happy to see him around and still playing.
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Glad to see Eriksen get his praise. He was always my favorite player at Spurs. Lack of competition in the squad forced him to regress a bit in his career. Barcelona/Real Madrid were interested at him at a time. Then he went to the demon Conte, who doesn’t know how to handle flair footballers. And of course after his health situation, happy he got to perform at Brentford, and for Ten Haag with his creative flair. Though now Man Utd have both Ambrabat, and Casemiro, should make him perform much better in a free role! Or at least backup to Bruno.
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The only reason i dont see Eriksen starting is because it doesn’t always look like he can play a full match, hence ETH has to be wise regarding when he should put Eriksen in the game. But everytime he’s subbed on, the entire team breaths easier and gains that extra sense of control. A game that was otherwise frantic, uncoordinated, improvised and scrappy, was all turned around when Eriksen came on the pitch. Gosh I wish we could see more to him.
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Eriksen Heart problem/Getty Images
The midfield in the Derby has to be him, Brumo and Amrabat.. whenever Eriksen plays deeper, it releases Bruno.. this experiment of Bruno playing as a deep playmaker and Mctominey as a 10/Second Striker has clearly failed.
We know Eriksen can’t play 90 minutes, but ETH should try to start with him and find a comfortable lead before subbing him off. I don’t remember Bruno having any influence on the game, or in previous games, he is so panicked in possession unlike Mr.Cool here. I would swap them around and see what happens.
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