PSG vs. Real Madrid: Winners and Losers from Champions League Game
Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid was the big fixture of this week in the UEFA Champions League—but the two served up a dreadful 0-0 draw bereft of quality, chances on goal and moments of excitement.
A dull first half lacked the excitement to match the build-up, with very few chances on goal and little quality on display.
Cristiano Ronaldo's header and a Jese shot blocked by the PSG 'keeper was as close as either side got to scoring—and the second half didn't particularly improve matters.
The home team were slightly more offensive after a spate of substitutions, but in truth, neither side really looked like breaking the deadlock.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match at Parc des Princes.
Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo
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Let's start off with a caveat: Nobody, certainly none of the attacking players in the match, can really come out of the game with too much credit.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however, certainly put in the work rate and the effort and came closest to scoring once or twice, making the runs to give his team-mates the chance to make intelligent passes and through balls—passes that never really came his way.
Two headers in the first half and a fierce volley just wide in the second half were the best chances on goal for either side, all falling Ronaldo's way, but he couldn't quite find his range to beat Kevin Trapp.
Losers: The PSG Attacking Three
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For 66 minutes, the front three for PSG of Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic toiled and struggled to make any kind of impact on the match whatsoever.
Cavani toe-poked one effort wide in the second half and, beyond that, none of the three looked remotely capable of opening up Real Madrid's defence, and Keylor Navas was almost able to ignore them entirely.
Within minutes of the wider two being substituted, replacements Lucas Moura and Javier Pastore had combined to produce a few moments of quality and tempo in attack—a huge contrast to the first two-thirds of the match from the home side.
Ronaldo Koeman, speaking on BT Sport Live, noted that Zlatan kept coming back into the midfield line to maintain possession rather than staying up front, leading the line, where his team needed him.
"It looks like Zlatan decided by himself in which position he will play, not the coach telling him what he has to do. He won't make the difference in midfield, he'll make the difference up front."
Winner: Rafael Benitez
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For Rafael Benitez, the point gained in Paris will feel like a tremendous one, regardless of the style of play and excitement of the match.
His team were rigid, organised, defended well and created the better scoring chances—as an away team against one of the better (and richer) sides in Europe, that's as much as you can ask.
Three games into the group stage, Real Madrid—just like PSG—haven't yet conceded a goal, and they remain top of the table with clean sheets quickly becoming a regular staple of this iteration of the Spanish side.
All that comes with Benitez missing a number of his first choice midfielders and attackers.
Loser: Laurent Blanc
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Playing at home and facing a depleted Real Madrid side, PSG should have been looking at this match as an opportunity to surge clear at the top of the group and put pressure on Real for the reverse fixture in two weeks' time.
Instead, PSG's performance was built on tame, safety-first football that rarely committed more than one extra player into the front line, and they were far too slow in transitions to catch Real out of position.
A draw against Real Madrid isn't a poor result in isolation, but Blanc's unwillingness to commit to going for the win was barely comprehensible considering they will easily finish in the top two of the group.
Loser: Serge Aurier
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Arguably the most wasteful performer on the field outside of PSG's front three, Serge Aurier was one of the few home players to get forward into good positions at times, but he was continually disappointing with his final pass and decision-making.
Defensively he was beaten a few times and committed a number of needless fouls, before he also took down Casemiro while just outside the Real Madrid penalty area to relieve the pressure late on—and then he kicked the ball away to pick up a pointless yellow card.
The game was a big disappointment overall, and Aurier's delivery and consistently poor choices only served to highlight the disturbing lack of quality on show.
