Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League aspirations went up in smoke for another season as Cristiano Ronaldo sent Real Madrid into the quarter-finals at their expense.
There had been firecrackers outside Madrid’s hotel the night before the game and there were flares behind the goal during the match. The only place PSG lacked fireworks was on the pitch.
And rising out of a smoke-filled goalmouth five minutes into the second half was Ronaldo to head in Lucas Vazquez’ cross.
He had flirted with a move to the Parc des Princes in the summer and here he was dominating in Paris, but still wearing the white shirt of Madrid.
Edinson Cavani knocked in an equalizer on the night with his knee but Marco Verratti had already been sent off and the game was long gone before Casemiro got a second and made it 5-2 on aggregate – old money seeing off the Nouveau riche without a problem.
Chasing Real Madrid’s 3-1 lead from the first leg PSG predictably carried the initiative but they were a blancmange at the back right from the start and Sergio Ramos nearly put Real Madrid ahead on the night on 17 minutes only for Alphonso Areola to smother his shot from just six yards out.
Without the injured Neymar the weight of PSG’s attacks was on Kylian Mbappé’s 19-year-old shoulders. He curled one right-footed shot just wide of Keylor Navas’ far post. And his direct running forced a foul ten yards outside the area which Angel Di Maria sent into the wall.
The home team’s attacks were anarchic and the final ball was often misplaced. Di Maria’s energy was at least keeping Madrid on the back foot and when Mateo Kovacic scythed him down out on the right he went into referee Felix Brych’s book.
Di Maria then got the better of Marcelo but when he crossed there was no PSG player in the six-yard box to finish.
When Madrid counter-attacked PSG still looked nervous and Thiago Silva was left screaming back up the pitch at his team-mates who had not tracked back to defend Lucas Vazquez’ run down the right.
Eight minutes before half time Areola had to save PSG again. Marcelo’s ball down the left sent Karim Benzema clear of a badly positioned Marquinhos.
He only had the PSG keeper to beat but Areloa blocked his shot sending it out for a corner.
Zinedine Zidane’s decision to leave Gareth Bale on the bench again, as he did in the first leg, will have pushed the Welshman a little closer to the exit. The two clearly no longer see eye-to-eye with Bale no longer an automatic pick for the big European games he used to come alive in.
His absence left Madrid without the same burst of pace on the break. The decision was rooted in Zidane’s belief that the 22-year-old Marco Asensio offers more protection to Marcelo, but the left back was left completely exposed three minutes before half time and PSG should have taken the lead.
Mbappé went past Marcelo and should have squared for Edinson Cavani who was waiting in the six-yard box to be served the ball for a tap-in.
But PSG showed that even without Neymar they are capable of each man playing for himself and Mbappé ignored Cavani and shot from the tightest of angles giving Navas a straightforward save to make at his near post.
Ronaldo headed wide from Marcelo’s cross at the restart and it was a warning of what was to come for PSG. When the goal came it was also down the left but it was Vazquez and Asensio who created it.
Asensio made the incisive run but had to double back when he saw no way through. He kept his head and played in Vazquez who crossed to the back post. As soon as Ronaldo rose to meet the ball it was only going to end in one place.
He headed it down and past Areola who was not helped by the fog of flares in his own area.
Uefa will be asking PSG why so many flares made their way into the ground. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi will already be asking a different question: who will replace Unai Emery at the end of the season?
They would love to have Zinedine Zidane but they might have to settle with trying to outbid Chelsea for Luis Enrique’s services.