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Performed: Marco Verratti
PSG midfielder Marco Verratti locked horns with Real Madrid maestro Luka Modric in midfield on Tuesday night.
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The Italian is known to hold his own, but doing so against the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner was not going to be easy. Verratti took a little time to get into the game, but once he did there was no turning back.
The 29-year-old outshone Luka Modric in every category imaginable. He carried the ball better, his distribution stretched the Madrid midfield thin, and his accurate passes into the box caused havoc in Los Blancos’ defense.
Over the course of the match, the Italy international registered 94 accurate passes, completed three dribbles, and provided six key passes.
To top it off, Verratti also won eight duels and attempted three tackles. A magisterial display by the PSG mastermind.
Underperformed: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi and Real Madrid have a bloody and bitter history. The diminutive Argentine crushed their dreams, title ambitions many times in Barcelona’s colors. On Tuesday, he had the opportunity to do the same for PSG.
Unfortunately for the home supporters, Messi could not quite turn on the charm last night and cut a rather disappointing figure up top.
As always, Messi was popping up in dangerous positions and used his vision to put multiple key passes (4) into the Real Madrid box. However, the explosiveness we associate with him in front of goal was largely missing.
To make matters worse, the 34-year-old failed to bury the game when the opportunity came knocking, missing a spot-kick in the 62nd minute.
Messi’s left-footed strike was unconvincing and was at a decent height for Courtois to save. The Belgian guessed the direction of his strike easily and parried it away to keep his side in the contest.
The poor spot-kick could very well come back to haunt PSG in the return leg at the Bernabeu next month.
Performed: Kylian Mbappe
Real Madrid’s no.1 transfer target Kylian Mbappe aced his final audition for the club, showing exactly what he can bring to the table. His pace tore through Marco Asensio, Luka Modric and Dani Carvajal, leaving Madrid’s right flank ripe for picking.
Against his alleged dream club, Mbappe registered seven shots, four of which were on target, and two were blocked. He also drew a premature challenge out of Carvajal in the second half that resulted in a penalty for PSG.
Unfortunately, Messi failed to hit the back of the next from the resultant spot-kick.
In his final act, Mbappe scored an outstanding solo goal to win the match for PSG. He once again dashed into the box from the left flank, beating Carvajal and Eder Militao’s challenges before slotting the ball between Courtois’s outstretched legs.
A brilliant individual effort by one of the best players in the world.
