Even after their dominance display against the record winners of the competition at the Parc des Princes, PSG Paris Saint-Germain will know that the battle is not won when they travel to the Santiago Bernabéu for the return leg of their round of 16 meeting with Los Blancos.
Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images
On Saturday evening, Real Madrid kicked off late in the night for their league clash with one of the other impressive sides in the La Liga this season, Real Sociedad, and they fell behind to a early penalty converted by Mikel Oyarzabal.
However, Carlo Ancelotti side show great resilient, completing a comeback just before half time and going on to rule the second half, ending the match with a 4-1 victory.
It was a different scenario for their rival in France at the Allianz Riviera in Nice as they concede a late winner to their host, as Andy Derlot’s strike two minutes from time condemned them to a third defeat in the Ligue 1.
Real Madrid, who will be without Casemiro, Ferland Mendy and Toni Kroos for the second leg will know that they are already on the edge after conceding deep into injury time in France last month.
Real Madrid outclass Real Sociedad at the Bernabéu. Photo by Burak Akbulut/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.
However, playing at the Santiago Bernabéu in the second leg gives them another edge against any visiting opposition as a testament to the visit of Sociedad on Saturday evening, but more will be required if they are to overcome Les Parisiens.
With Toni Kroos and Casemiro out, Carlo Ancelotti is likely to call on Edouardo Camavinga, and so gave him his second league start on the night. After struggling in the early exchange, the French teenager soon got into the game and produced a beautiful long range strike restore parity for the host in the 40th minute.
Camavinga, who is no stranger to playing against PSG as he did when in France with Rennes will hope to make the XI on Wednesday and help fire Real into the last eight.
Overturning a 1-0 deficit is not too much but with the outrageous attacking talents afforded by PSG, Real Madrid defenders will have a handful to deal with, thus, it might mean little time for them to contribute to attack.
Moreso, only once in their last five home games has Real Madrid failed to score more than just one goal, and that game they won 1-0, which will be enough for them to force extra time should it end this way against PSG.
For PSG, they have now lost their last two away games and the Santiago Bernabéu is surely not the easiest place to correct that, but they can count on their attacking trio of Mbappé, Messi and Neymar to give them the needed performance to sail through.
Messi and Neymar look disappointed after their loss to Nice. Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
All of PSG’s four defeats this season across all competitions have come away from home, should that be the case in Madrid, we might be set for extra time or Madrid going through, since the away goal rule has been scrapped.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
