Laurent Blanc refused to elaborate upon his exchange with Cristiano Ronaldo during Paris Saint-Germain’s meeting with Real Madrid in midweek, claiming the media were overstepping boundaries.
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PSG, 12/1 to go all the way, are level on points with Real with an identical record, with one goal separating the teams.
The visitors dominated proceedings for much of the first half, as Blaise Matuidi met a low Serge Aurier cross to test Madrid keeper, Keylor Navas, before Zlatan Ibrahimovic curled an effort wide from inside the box.
Angel Di Maria, who was again desperate to impress against his old club sparkled at times, hitting the crossbar in the 90th minute.
PSG were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the last three editions.
Manchester United moved top of Group B thanks to a 1-0 home win over CSKA Moscow, and Benfica took advantage of Atletico Madrid’s scoreless draw at Astana by beating Galatasaray 2-1 at home to move atop Group C.
A shot from Kroos deflected off a defender and seemed to go out, but Nacho had faith and reached it. The defender seemed to have tried to send a pass towards Ronaldo but the ball ended up in the back of the net.
A win for either side would earn a place in the last 16 should Malmo lose at Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday. Regardless of the loss, PSG is still in great shape to advance, and Real Madrid is right where most expected.
“There are always things you can improve, but the fact we’ve qualified is very positive”.
Despite a winning result against Paris Saint-Germain, the ESPN FC crew remain unimpressed by Real Madrid’s play in the UCL.
This time PSG created most of the risky scoring opportunities from the start. His lone chance was a 26th-minute free kick that was easily saved by Trapp.
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The high-profile match at the Bernabeu pitted two of the best teams in Europe this season against each other. The goal they conceded to Las Palmas on Saturday – a header at a corner – was the first they conceded at home this season. It’s 1-0 for Real. Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema didn’t train with the team today, and will be inactive along with Dani Carvajal.
