The bus that transported the Real Madrid players descended in slow motion an hour and a half earlier down Concha Espina street to the blind acclamation (because of conviction and lack of visibility) from a tightly packed crowd of fans, who attended the club’s call . All very tied and measured within the official scenery to feed the comeback. Inside, the animation stands directed by the entity received their boys with a large banner with the legend “We are the kings of Europe”. Chest blows and an inflamed atmosphere after Carlo Ancelotti lit the fuse in the very bowels of the Parc des Princes.
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Courtois, Alaba, Nacho, Dani Carvajal (Lucas Vázquez, min. 65), Eder Militao, Kroos (Camavinga, min. 56), Federico Valverde, Modric, Vinicius Junior, Marco Asensio (Rodrygo, min. 56) and Benzema
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Gianluigi Donnarumma, Kimpembe, Achraf Hakimi (Draxler, min. 87), Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Danilo Pereira (Di María, min. 80), Paredes (Idrissa Gueye, min. 70), Verratti, Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe
goals 0-1 min. 38: Kylian Mbappe. 1-1 min. 60: Benzema. 2-1 min. 75: Benzema. 3-1 min. 77: Benzema.
Referee Danny Makkelie
Yellow cards Paredes (min. 6), Nacho (min. 42), Vinicius Junior (min. 43), Dani Carvajal (min. 59), Gianluigi Donnarumma (min. 60), Achraf Hakimi (min. 80), Kimpembe (min. 80). 82) and Lucas Vázquez (min. 87)
And so, with pure fire, with a stadium turned upside down and Benzema painting his Sistine Chapel, Madrid swallowed PSG. When he was already beginning to pray for the white soul, Benzema raised a dead man. Militão was limping, the physique of the battered Kroos had definitely cracked, but the man who for years carried without a care with the label of cold chest came out of nowhere to bring down the French team. It was quite a Marian apparition. From zero to beyond in 15 minutes. An indelible performance that also placed him above Alfredo di Stéfano in the club’s top scorers table: 309 after the 308 of the myth. Only Cristiano Ronaldo and Raúl remain ahead.
The miracle began with a maneuver that no one would have suspected of Benzema a short time ago. He lunged for Donnarumma, who had the ball under control inside the box. The Frenchman denied him the exit with a small touch, the ball ended up in Vinicius, who assisted him to score the equalizer. Thus, in the middle of the desert, a wave arose that did not take long to lead to a tsunami, which ate PSG without them saying a word. Three minutes later, Benzema again caught a very damaging header in the air that ended up in the hands of Donnarumma. Then, the Bernabéu, whose energy the Parisians had sucked touch by touch, released the final snort to consummate the comeback.
A ride by Modric from shore to shore, with his hair and nose in the air dodging rivals, opened the way to 2-1. Again from Benzema, who received a ball from the area and took out the mallet again. And two minutes later, the third. Benzema, Benzema and Benzema, the revivalist in his great night of glory as a target. There was a quarter of an hour left plus the extension, but hardly anything was known about the most expensive list of PSG forwards except for a free kick executed by Messi almost in the discount. Danilo Pereira moved his hands, arms and head looking for an explanation for what until a few minutes ago seemed incredible.
Because, until that moment, the only thing that had happened was the collapse of the local midfield. If in the first leg of Paris Pochettino’s gang boxed the whites with pressure to the neck that they never managed to save, at the Bernabéu the revolutions dropped from start to touch. Nobody better symbolized the temporary bankruptcy of Madrid than Kroos, lined up urgently after a week in the infirmary. The passage of him behind him before the control at that point of Verratti, Paredes, Messi and Neymar also pushed Modric.
At that point, the only thing that had a focus on the white side were the attempts by Vinicius and Nacho. Curiously, the most feverish at the start was a boy with a formal sign, left back this time due to the absence of Mendy. After ten minutes, the youth squad broke in like a cyclone to swat away Achraf, a son like him from the Valdebebas factory, when he protested a foul. Then he challenged her with a look after another action. And, finally, he ended up carded by not being able to hold the Moroccan defender.
Pure fever and little white football before Benzema created his masterpiece. At 34 years old, already pardoned with the French team, the striker put the definitive key on his way to the history of Madrid.
”The fans pushed us and we had the necessary mental strength”
The comeback against PSG consecrated the legend of stage fright at the Bernabéu and Karim Benzema’s career at Madrid. The French striker scored a hat-trick with which he overtook Di Stéfano and became the third top scorer in Real Madrid history, with 309 goals, only surpassed by Cristiano’s 451 and Raúl’s 323. “We deserve the victory and the classification. The fans pushed us and the team gave it their all on the pitch”, declared Benzema at the foot of the pitch, as soon as he finished off the feat. “Champions League matches are always difficult, but we had the necessary mental strength to win”, continued the Madrid striker.
His pressing and stealing the ball from goalkeeper Donnarumma changed the biorhythms of the game and the atmosphere at the Bernabéu. “It wasn’t a goalkeeper error, it was due to the pressure. And with that pressure, when the whole team is involved, we can beat any team. We live each match as a final. Madrid is alive”, Benzema concluded, with the same forcefulness with which he sentenced PSG on their big night in the European Cup. Benzema’s night.
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