Mar 7, 2018
Farewell then, Paris, a team that for all its vaulting ambition never does seem to get past the spring. On a gripping, relentlessly noisy night at the Parc des Princes second-half goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Casemiro were enough to extinguish once again Paris Saint‑Germain’s hopes of making it to the late stages of the Champions League.
A 5-2 aggregate victory hardly does justice to the French champions’ fine showing in the opening hour of the first leg of this tie. But the ease of Real Madrid’s ultimate victory speaks volumes not just for their own champion poise but for the difficulty of combining dreams of European dominance with the room-temperature French league.
