PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari-bankrolled bid to put themselves among Europe’s elite foundered again as Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid comfortably beat the French club to move into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Ronaldo administered the killer blow with a 51st minute header at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday that saw PSG’s chances of pulling back a two-goal defeat from the first leg vanishing into the smoke from supporters’ flares.
A scrappy PSG goal from Edinson Cavani was followed by the cherry on the cake for the defending European champions with Brazilian Casemiro’s deflected goal.
As the ball looped into the net to complete a comfortable 5-2 win over the two legs, the half a billion euros a year that PSG’s Qatari owners have pumped into the club since 2012 had once again failed to land the one prize they crave.
The absence of Neymar, the Parisians’ star and a player who offered the best chance of unlocking the Madrid defence, was significant.
Having broken a toe in a league match against Marseille, the 222-million-euro signing watched the game in Brazil where he is recovering from surgery.