At the Bernabeu you can't be confident: great Real Madrid, great Benzema

In the first leg, nobody could explain the short result that the French team had obtained after the great superiority shown throughout the match.

Madrid had practically no shots on goal. Verratti was lord and master of the game and Mbappé kept beating Carvajal time and time again.

Only goalkeeper Courtois with great interventions kept the score at zero.
Only in stoppage time did the French star manage to score a great goal, 1-0 and to confirm the superiority in Madrid.

The super team with Messi, Neymar, Mbappé, Verratti, Marquinhos and Hakimi had the tie in their hands.

But things happen at the Bernabeu that don't happen in other stadiums or with other fans.

Everyone has heard of the great white comebacks, but that, it was assumed, is in the past. In today's football, tactics and physical preparation make football a more controlled game with hardly any surprises, especially at the elite level.

However, the white team, its fans and its stadium, the Santiago Bernabéu, escape logic and break all the plans and forecasts of the, in theory, football experts.

A climate of optimism had been building up among the madridistas for several days. The match against Real Sociedad last Saturday was a great game in terms of play and goals. With all the first team players on the pitch, without protecting the 11 chosen ones except for Kroos who was injured.

The Madrid fans conjured up an atmosphere of euphoria. The Bernabeu's surrounding area three hours before the game was packed with young and not-so-young fans.

When the Real Madrid bus arrived, there were thousands of fans. You could say that there were enough people to fill several "Bernabeus".

The fans started to win the tie there. Fans from all over the world had bought tickets at stratospheric prices. The atmosphere was one of total euphoria before the match. Not a single public order problem. Young, old, children, an atmosphere of celebration and positivity.

The players of the French team on their arrival at the stadium also witnessed this atmosphere and although they are world class players and used to hostile environments, something must have stirred something inside them.

The departure of the players with the Real Madrid anthem sung by the whole stadium made the hair on the back of the neck stand on end.

The fans were dedicated, cheering non-stop. Ancelotti's team dominated the start of the game, but without creating chances. Pochettino's side gradually took control of the game. They withstood the first quarter of an hour of Real Madrid's downpour of enthusiasm and desire, but as soon as they could they found Kylian Mbappé and the Madrid defence suffered a lot.

The result of that control was Paris Saint-Germain's goal in the 38th minute, although before that, in the 33rd minute, the best player in the world at the moment, Kylian Mbappé, had scored against Courtois, but it had been disallowed for offside.

Carvajal lost the ball in an incomprehensible self-pass and Neymar took advantage of the counter-attack to send a deep pass that this time Mbappé did get on the end of with a missile that the Belgian goalkeeper could not stop.

The fans went in at half-time a little sad, but with the reasoning that there were still 45 minutes to play. We have to keep working.

Despite the superiority of the Parisian team, the result, as in Paris, was surmountable by changing the strategy and some of the players. There was plenty of criticism of Carvajal and Asensio. They had not appeared in the first leg and neither had they in the second. Carvajal had had to dance with the ugly one, but the superiority that the PSG striker showed in every play was not normal.

The second half started in the same way. Madrid were unable to break down and create chances and the French team controlled the game.

Karim Benzema had not played much of a part in the game, but he kept pressing the French defence, sometimes on his own. Vinicius kept trying, but seemed to be running out of gas. Asensio disappeared.

Minute 57 Camavinga and Rodrygo came on for Kroos and Asensio.

Kroos exhausted after trying to do the job of an absent Casemiro and Asensio who will take a long time to regain the affection of the fans after the elimination and the gesture he made to silence the fans a few weeks ago.

Modric and Valverde were magnificent in terms of physical waste and creation. But they alone could not cope with the midfield of Verratti, Paredes and Danilo.

They had to keep working and working, there was no other option, and for that they had to rely on the example of a solid Benzema, Modric and Valverde, who monopolised space, and Militao, Alaba and Nacho, who were solid in defence.

As a result of this work and the incorporation of youth and courage with Camavinga and Rodrygo, Donnarumma made a blunder in an effort by Benzema that Vinicius managed perfectly and set up the goal for the nine-goaler.

The fans were starting to believe again and the Paris Saint-Germain players, despite their experience, were showing signs of nervousness for the first time.

Neymar approaches Donnarumma to reprimand him for his mistake.

From here on a magical atmosphere is created that makes the white players fly in comparison to the Parisians. Control passes to Real Madrid and they create several chances.

Vinicius missed a clear-cut chance, but the match was already a different story. The comeback is in the air.
Lucas Vázquez came on for Carvajal.

In the 75th minute, after the umpteenth Neymar miss, Modric slipped a magnificent pass to Karim who scored with the help of Marquinhos. At the start of the play, the Croatian player had started from his own area in a masterful run that prevented him from even being fouled.

The Italian goalkeeper approached the Brazilian star to reproach him for his action, just as Neymar had done to him earlier. The nerves were growing. The ghost of the comebacks suffered by Al-Khelaifi's team was getting bigger.

No time to celebrate the goal that levelled the tie. At the kick-off, Modric and Rodrygo put the opposition under great pressure and the latter got hold of the ball to send a pass between the lines to Vinicius who cut back and Marquinhos, in his eagerness to clear, served Karim who, without stopping and with his instep, shot past Donnarumma and out of his goal.

The comeback was consummated, but instead of backing down, the white team, spurred on by their fans, continued to press forward and came close to scoring a fourth goal on several occasions.

Pochettino, who had refused to change an inoperative Messi, or a failing Neymar, brought on Angel di Maria, who had been one of the standout performers in the first leg in Paris, but who yesterday left his place to the stars who ended up crashing out. As soon as he came on he was injured, we imagine that as a result of his frustration he didn't even warm up and in the first start the muscle gave way.

Real Madrid controlled the game until the end except for a long free kick from Messi, who didn't even contribute to that. Rodrygo and Camavinga were imperious when they came on. PSG only stopped the Merengue team with fouls. Victory by knockout. 

As the famous Italian phrase used to say: "90 minuti in the Bernabéu are very long".

Real Madrid, in order to compensate for the lack of play and quality against the French team, were clear that they had to keep working to find the opponent's mistakes. They had faith and a lot of courage to keep pressing and the team financed by Qatar was diluted like a sugar cube.

The end, ecstasy in the stadium. Heroic victory for the team, the fans and the Santiago Bernabéu. 

The fans took many minutes to leave their cathedral. The players exhausted but excited. Two great heroes Karim Benzema and Luka Modric.

Señorío, knowing how to win and knowing how to lose. You can't buy it with money.

A big loser, Qatar and its money that is not worth to win titles. 
The Qatari side also failed to be polite. Mr. Al-Khelaifi went down to the dressing room to protest to the referee and threatened a Real Madrid employee with the phrase: "I'm going to kill you".

Another big casualty will be Sergio Ramos. What bad decisions he made. And how good David Alaba and Eder Militao are.

Surely Kylian Mbappé would pay to play in the best football club in the world and live shows like yesterday, but it will be the other way around Madrid will make a big outlay, but beware, this player is worth it, far from being a Hazard. The French star will be a great Madrid idol.

A great day for madridismo. The youngsters already know what a great comeback at the Bernabéu is like.