Real Madrid vs PSG, UEFA Champions League Live score: Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have experienced very different seasons so far.
It is a clash of galaxies in the Champions League Round of 16. Some of the most recognisable names in the footballing world will be on display when Real Madrid and PSG play at the Santiago Bernabeu. Unai Emery seems to have found a way to align the stars that PSG accumulated by letting their money spill over the transfer market in the summer. The French giants made an absolute mockery of the group stage and have done the same to the French Ligue 1 this season. Real, on other hand have looked a shadow of the side that have dominated Europe since Zinedine Zidane took over. The last time PSG played a Spanish giant away from home was when they traveled to Barcelona to extraordinarily lose 6-1.
Real Madrid vs PSG, UEFA Champions League Live score:
The teams walk out on to the pitch with star-struck children trotting alongside the players
The last time they travelled to Spain to play one of the two football giants that reside in the country, PSG suffered a defeat like no other. They came into the match leading 4-0 against Barcelona and even got an away goal at the Nou Camp. Even then, they lost 6-1 and became one of the reasons why a wall of noise surrounded Catalonia that day. Neymar was the chief architect of PSG's destruction that day. Now he has donned the very colours he had vanquished and a far more confident PSG are facing a stumbling Real Madrid. If ever there was a chance for redemption for Unai Emery, this is it.
(Source: AP)
Zidane seems to have gone back to trusting Isco now that the Champions League is reaching its business end. Lasanna Diarais benched ahead of Giovani Lo Celso, Angel Di Maria, on the other hand, starts on his competitive return to the Bernabeu
Real Madrid: Navas, Nacho, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Isco, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Subs: Casilla, Bale, Hernandez, Lucas, Hakimi, Asensio, Kovacic.
PSG: Areola, Dani Alves, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Yuri, Verratti, Lo Celso, Rabiot, Mbappe, Cavani, Neymar.
Subs: Trapp, Thiago Silva, Di Maria, Meunier, Diarra, Draxler, Pastore.
Real Madrid: Navas, Nacho, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Modric, Kroos, Casemiro, Isco, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Subs: Casilla, Bale, Hernandez, Lucas, Hakimi, Asensio, Kovacic.
PSG: Areola, Dani Alves, Marquinhos, Kimpembe, Yuri, Verratti, Lo Celso, Rabiot, Mbappe, Cavani, Neymar.
Subs: Trapp, Thiago Silva, Di Maria, Meunier, Diarra, Draxler, Pastore.
Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani, Angel Di Maria Sergio Ramos, Marcelo - these are some of the names that will be plying their trade at the Santiago Bernabeu today. It is matches like these that brings out the strangeness of modern-day professional football. The combined costs of acquiring these players, their wages and their brand values would come to an an amount that might be close to the annual turnover of a multi-national company. All these billionaires will be running behind a ball trying to get it into their respective goal posts, the same thing you may find kids doing on their preferred empty stretch of the street or local playgrounds on a rainy day.
Let's get into the swing of things then; Real Madrid have had a horrendous season. They actually qualified for the ROund of 16 after finishing second in their group and have to be content with fighting for a Champions League spot in La Liga. PSG, on the other hand, have flattened any opposition that have come their way this season. One thing is for sure, at the end of this two-legged fixture, a giant will be left licking their wounds.