Real Madrid 3-1 PSG: 5 Talking Points

WHAT A GAME! Real Madrid and PSG might have gone into the game with contrasting forms but they were neck-to-neck for the first 75 minutes of the game.

However, once Asensio came on for Isco in the 79th minute, the game was all about Madrid. The Spaniard made sure that they were exploiting the weakness of PSG's defence and provided two assists in 9 minutes to win the game for Los Blancos.

On that note, here are the 5 talking points from the game:

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#5 Interesting lineups by both teams

When the lineups came out, the fans of both teams were shocked. The Madrid fans were surprised to see Gareth Bale on the bench with Isco starting.

PSG, on the other hand, left Thiago Silva on the bench and that was a big blunder by Unai Emery. The Brazilian defender would have been brilliant against Karim Benzema and that would have helped Marquinhos and the full backs to concentrate on Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco.

Zidane's mistake of leaving out Bale might have cost them big time if it wasn't for Asensio's magic at the end.

#4 PSG's defensive blunders cost them the game

Too many mistakes

Mistake after mistake after mistake. PSG defenders were helping Ronaldo and Benzema more than Isco was tonight, or so it seemed. Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe were awful at clearing the ball and instead tried to pass it out to their teammates.

The ball was easily intercepted most of the time and that resulted in Madrid attacking straight away. Ronaldo's 2nd goal is the best example of it. Kimpembe could have hoofed the ball up when he got it but instead, he tried to pass it to Marco Verratti and Ronaldo intercepted.

Their failure to clear the ball cost them again as Marcelo scored in the 86th minute. To add to that, their marking and positioning were also horrendous towards the end.

#3 Zidane's substitutions were spot on

Spot on!

Zidane might have been questioned by the Madrid fans for his starting XI but the substitutions he made were brilliant. The timing and the player selections were just too good and that changed the game in Madrid's favour.

He first brought on Gareth Bale for Karim Benzema in the 68th minute and that made things difficult for Yuri Berchiche. The full-back was unable to contain the Welshman just because of his sheer pace.

The best substitution, however, was bringing on Asensio for Isco in the 79th minute and he provided an assist to Ronaldo within 4 minutes. He again provided a beautiful ball to Marcelo and the Brazilian full-back made no mistake and won the game 3-1 for them.

#2 PSG haven't learnt from their mistakes

Paris Saint-Germain Training And Press Conference

"PSG are better prepared for Madrid than they were for Barcelona" those were the exact words on Unai Emery before the game. But were they actually better prepared? Nope.

The PSG players were not able to stitch passes together and were often caught out of position. Neymar and Kylian Mbappe were linking up well but that was the only connection you could see on the pitch among the French side's players.

If it wasn't for Alphonse Areola, they would have lost the game by 3-5 goal margin easily and that would have been impossible to turn over for them.

#1 A game of dives

Dolphins on the pitch

The game had more dives than goals tonight. Neymar began things off with a dive in his own half and then it was followed up by 4-5 others throughout the match by the Brazilian.

The match had several other players diving as well with Luka Modric's dive being the hilarious one. The Croatian managed to fool the referee completely and got Rabiot booked for it as well.

Neymar's final dive could have got him sent off today, but somehow, the referee decided just to award just a free kick to Real Madrid and not book the Brazilian again.