Paris had the upper hand for an hour and Killian Ebape sent the ball into the net three times but only one goal counted. Real had their own Frenchman, but Karim Benzema led the Merenges with an amazing hat-trick in an unthinkable upset and a 3-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu for the 16th of the Champions League after the 1-0 defeat in Paris.

The Frenchman scored in 61′, 76′ and 78′ to move the Spaniard into 14th place after they knocked out one of the tournament favorites who suffered an unexplained collapse on the field.

Real have progressed to the quarter-finals and are waiting for the draw on Friday 18 March to find out who the opponents will be.

Ebape’s presence in the starting XI made for an interesting duel with Eder Militao. The Frenchman did what he wanted against the lonely Brazilian, who couldn’t help either from the right Danny Carvajal or from the left to the equally busy David Alaba.

Ebape twice cautioned a shot from the left which was intercepted by Thibaut Courtois. The Spaniards’ response was high pressure for about a quarter of the game and two endgames by Karim Benzema, once with a wrong shot from outside the box and once with an unopposed header.

However, the quality of the Paris players made the difference. Lionel Messi put in a lot of work both defensively and offensively, Ebape sent the ball into the net twice, one being called off for offside and the other counting normally and it was now all on the visitors’ side.

This image remained in the first minutes of the second half, when Ebape was still causing problems with his races at Real and Neymar fed him in crucial places. In the 55th minute, Ebape sent the ball back into the net, again for offside, but somewhere there was an up and down.

Real started to believe in his strengths, but most of all he started receiving unthinkable gifts from Paris players. In the 61st minute, Gianluigi Donaruma shoots at Vinicius, who makes Benzema 1-1. A little later, Presnen Kibebe made it to the Brazilian, who missed four. In the 76th minute, the entire Paris defense allowed Luka Modric to make two verticals on Vinicius and Benzema, and finally the Frenchman made it 2-1. And with the cross, the ball was lost again and Benzema scored one in 17 minutes hat trick.

The complete collapse of Paris was a fact, but it didn’t stop there. The game stayed put even after Real’s three goals, as the French continued to lavish possession on their opponents. Benzema, Modric and Rodrigo had other opportunities to score more goals against the disqualified players left helpless by Mauricio Pochettino.

Benzema became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in the tournament (34 and 80 days old, 17 days older than Olivier Giroud) but he looked closer to the next goal than the younger players in Paris. Only one foul by Messi at the end threatened to send the game into overtime. Φευ.

Real qualified for the quarter-finals on a historic night and Paris fell victim to another incredible upset on Spanish soil in the Champions League, as they did against Barcelona years ago, and went for another season without the trophy they like none chase others from the moment the side was changed.

REAL: Courtois, Carvajal (66′ Batketh), Militao, Alaba, Nacho, Valverde, Kroos (57′ Camavinga), Montrich, Asensio (57′ Rodrigo), Benzema, Vinicius

ΠΑΡΙ: Donaruma, Hakimi (88′ Draxler), Marcinios, Kibebe, Mendes, Danilo (80′ Di Maria), Paredes (71′ Gage), Verratti, Ebape, Messi, Neymar

The results of the first games of the round of 16

The results of the second games of the round of 16