In this three-week window between the rounds of the 8th round of the Champions League first leg (1-0, February 15) and return (March 9), each performance of Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid will be scrutinized.
Each has three meetings to increase in power, perfect the systems and the automatisms.
And in this little game, the people of Madrid have apparently taken a slight lead, after the Parisian rout on Saturday in Nantes (3-1, 25th day of Ligue 1).
Light, since despite their big victory by 3 goals to 0 looking like a trompe l'oeil, the people of Madrid struggled to get rid at the same time of Alavés, penultimate in the Spanish championship.
Benzema, scorer and double passer
Terribly boring and imprecise in the first period, despite an eleven almost similar to the one beaten in Paris - only Toni Kroos was out of breath, replaced by Federico Valverde as right torchbearer - Carlo Ancelotti's players relied on their individualities to make the difference in the second act.
Marco Asensio with a nice shot (1-0, 63rd), Vinicius after a superb collective action (2-0, 80th) and Karim Benzema from the penalty spot (3-0, 90th + 1), a quarter of hour after hitting the post (76th), scored.
[⚽️ VIDEO - GOAL] 🇪🇸 #LaLiga
🤯🤯🤯 WHAT A GOAL, WHAT REAL ACTION!!!
🔥 Asensio, Benzema and Vinicius combine to break!
🤩 What a dribble from Nueve...https://t.co/STzNqxOlf4
— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) February 19, 2022
With 18 goals in 22 games, the Frenchman, also a decisive double passer, is more than ever the top scorer in the Championship.
He has also become the oldest French player to score 25 goals in a club season in the European Top 5.
27 - No player has been directly involved in more goals than Real Madrid striker Karim @Benzema 🇫🇷 in Europe's top 5 leagues this season (27 - 18 goals + 9 assists, tied with Robert Lewandowski 🇵 🇱, 26 + 1).
Galactic.
pic.twitter.com/NpeEEOtQFZ
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) February 19, 2022
Ancelotti: “After the bad match against PSG, the fans saw a reaction”
“The public judges the match that we are doing.
He did not like the first period but the second, yes.
No one was happy with what we achieved in the first 45 minutes.
But they were happy in the end.
They always support us.
They get annoyed because they want us to win La Liga and do better.
After the bad match against PSG, they saw a reaction, "said Ancelotti in a post-match press conference, when his players were widely whistled by their supporters at half-time.
After a single victory in their last five matches in all competitions (two draws and two defeats), the White House regained some momentum and took the opportunity to consolidate their lead at the top of the Championship, seven points ahead of Sevilla FC ( which has a late game).
The leader of Ligue 1 (Saint-Etienne, Nice) and that of Liga (Rayo Vallecano, Real Sociedad) still have two meetings to negotiate well before meeting for the return leg, at the Santiago-Bernabeu.