Zapping Foot National Top 10: the best active Ligue 1 scorers
Paris Saint-Germain certainly thought they had done the hardest thing. Winner in the first leg thanks to Kylian Mbappé (1-0), the capital club once again relied on their 23-year-old striker to take the lead in the round of 16 return to Santiago-Bernabéu in early March. The France international had actually opened the scoring before halftime (39th), confirming the overall Parisian dominance since the kick-off of the double showdown. Yes, but here it is.
In barely fifteen minutes, Paris plunged back into its shortcomings and lost its footing against the Merengue, carried by a Karim Benzema of the great nights. And authored a hat-trick to turn the situation around (3-2 over the whole of the two games). A necessary moment apart for the 34-year-old striker, who also entrusted this unlikely success behind the scenes. The return to the dressing room, during halftime, was a turning point in the return leg.
“That often happens to them, they let go mentally”
“You can ask my teammates who were there in the locker room to start by pointing out Karim Benzema” The team, this morning. 1-0 for Paris, it didn’t change for us, we knew we had to score two goals anyway. During halftime I took the floor and said to everyone, ‘Guys, we’re good. We conceded a goal, but tried to attack. It’s normal, we have to attack. You just have to be careful with the counters. Quiet,” says the Madrid captain. Words, but not only. Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid also won the tactical battle in the second act.
“If you press them, if you give them density, if you don’t let them out, it’s good,” the French international notes. Their strategy is Verratti, he does all the work. If you press well, they switch to another strategy and it’s not the same Paredes next to him won’t be the same Marquinhos and Kimpembe who want to play at Verratti won’t be the same either So the secret against PSG it’s to rush them The matches they lost in the Ligue 1 are the ones where they were pushed in all directions,” points out the former Lyonnais, who also focuses on the mental weaknesses of the Parisians. “When we scored, they told themselves that they had lost the game, when it was only 1-1 … That happens to them often, they let go mentally,” concludes Karim Benzema with an estimate.
to summarise
Paris Saint-Germain certainly thought they had done the hardest thing. Winner in the first leg thanks to Kylian Mbappé (1-0), the capital club once again relied on their 23-year-old striker to take the lead in the round of 16 return to Santiago-Bernabéu in early March. The France international had actually opened the scoring before halftime (39th), confirming the overall Parisian dominance since the kick-off of the double showdown. Yes, but here it is….
