Italy international Marco Verratti was sent off for a double booking as Paris Saint-Germain crashed out of the Champions League to Real Madrid.
The task was already tough after a 3-1 first leg defeat at the Bernabeu, but the Parisians went into this evening’s Round of 16 decider feeling relatively confident.
That evaporated when Dani Alves lost the ball in midfield, was nutmegged by Marco Asensio and Cristiano Ronaldo rose to meet the cross.
Italy international Marco Verratti was sent off for a double booking as Paris Saint-Germain crashed out of the Champions League to Real Madrid.
The task was already tough after a 3-1 first leg defeat at the Bernabeu, but the Parisians went into this evening’s Round of 16 decider feeling relatively confident.
That evaporated when Dani Alves lost the ball in midfield, was nutmegged by Marco Asensio and Cristiano Ronaldo rose to meet the cross.
Verratti had already been booked in the opening 19 minutes for a lunging tackle from behind and received his second yellow card for chasing down the referee to protest a decision.
That was his third Champions League red card in just 44 appearances, along with three goals, six assists and 14 bookings.
Notably, three of Paris Saint-Germain’s last four red cards in the Champions League were for Verratti.
It has always been an issue for the midfielder, as in his 58 Serie B appearances for Pescara, he was sent off three times and received 13 yellow cards.
Edinson Cavani pulled one back almost by accident with a lucky ricochet on a corner, but Adrien Rabiot’s poor clearance fell to Casemiro and the deflected finish looped over a helpless Alphonse Areola.
It ended 2-1 on the night to Zinedine Zidane’s side, 5-2 on aggregate.
Real Madrid sweep through to the quarter-finals, targeting a record third consecutive trophy, while Liverpool played a comfortable goalless draw with FC Porto at Anfield, having won the first leg 5-0 away from home.