Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane was understandably ecstatic after overseeing his side’s 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 fixture, with Los Blancos progressing to the quarters by virtue of a resounding 5-2 aggregate as the French tactician termed it the ‘perfect performance’.
“It was a perfect performance. We played high up the field, put the opposition under pressure and delivered a really good display,” Zidane told his post-match press conference.
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Cristiano Ronaldo continued his fine run of form by heading the visitors into the lead early in the second-half before PSG midfielder Marco Verratti lost his cool by getting sent off shorty after the hour-mark to make it virtually-impossible task for Les Parisiens.
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Real were favourites to progress after they won the first leg 3-1 in Madrid and while Edinson Cavani briefly sparked hope for the Ligue 1 giants by levelling after Verratti’s dismissal, Real’s Casemiro put the result of the tie beyond any doubt with a 80th-minute winner.
“They all produced great performances and it wasn’t easy out there. We deserve to reach the next round and I can only but be happy. I can put any of them out there and they end up doing a good job”.
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Bereft of the services of star man Neymar, who is recuperating after foot surgery, PSG didn’t look cohesive in attack as their vaunted attack triumvirate of Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe flopped on the big stage.
Zidane, however, was adamant that Les Parisiens didn’t have a poor outing and it was simply a case of his side being the better of the two sides, hence their progression.
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“I don’t think that PSG performed poorly in the tie. They did well in the first leg and perhaps tonight they didn’t do quite as well because of what was a very good display from us. The sending-off changed the whole complexion of the game. We then scored our second and things became tougher for them,” Zidane added.
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