Real Madrid: Stars and flops from an iconic 3-1 victory over PSG
Star: LW Vinicius Junior
By the end of the 90 minutes, it was ‘Kylian Mbappe, who?’ attitude inside the Bernabeu. Only one winger took flight at the end and it was our star boy, Vinicius Junior. As the game went on, Vini kept becoming unguardable for the Parisians. He caught Achraf Hakimi out of position during breaks and levels ahead of PSG’s centre-backs, Kimpembe and Marquinhos.
He deservedly got his assist for the first goal. And, if it was my world, I’d have given him goal involvements in the second and the third goals too. He was smart to hold up the play, get better of three defenders marking him, and then pass the ball to Luka Modric, who got his assist on the second goal. In the third goal too, he was clinical in holding and carrying the ball forward. The footballing gods helped him with that extra bit of luck when Marquinhos’ clearance went straight to Benzema.
This was yet another important performance from the Brazilian who is truly enjoying his breakout season. This performance should give him a lot of confidence moving forward.
Star: CF Karim Benzema
And, for the man of the hour, Karim Benzema, I do not even know what to write or if my words ever do justice to what Karim Benzema did out there on the pitch on Wednesday night. Benzema scored an 18-minute hat-trick between 61-78 minutes and that was enough to knock PSG out of the Champions League.
Right from the get-go, there was fire in Benzema’s eyes. He was looking to score each time he got the ball. He had a screamingly close curling attempt at the 24-minute mark. He found himself at the end of crosses more regularly as the game went on and then finally, he scored three goals to see his team through to the quarterfinals of Europe’s biggest club competition.
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This was a special performance, and with this Benzema broke quite a few records. First, he is now the third-highest goalscorer in Real Madrid’s history. With his three goals, his tally is now 309 goals for the club which is one better than Alfredo Di Stefano’s 308 goals. He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (451) and Raul (323). And, he also set the record for the oldest player to get a Champions League hat-trick at 34 years 80 days old. King Karim.