History-Making Ronaldo: I Was Outstanding Against PSG
Cristiano Ronaldo says he “stood out” as Real Madrid overpowered Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie on Wednesday.
The European hampions were startled by Adrien Rabiot’s 33rd-minute strike at the Bernabeu, only for Ronaldo to put the team back in the fight after converting the penalty in the stoke of half time.
That goal meant Ronaldo became the first player to ever score a 100 goals in the Champions League, with the Portugal international then putting his side ahead seven minutes from time.
And Marcelo’s late effort has now given the holders the edge heading to Paris for the return leg on March 6. “It was very important,” said Ronaldo. “When you score goals and the team wins, it is always special.
“ I stood out, I helped the team to win by scoring two goals, but we know that the tie is not finished yet.
“We need to go over there and try to win and score goals to be able to ease any pressure and qualify for the next round.”
Meanwhile, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane felt his team were worthy winners on the night.
“We can be happy with the way we played,” Zidane said. “We kept going to the end. It is a good result and the team deserve to be congratulated.
“It was a good evening, we completely deserved our victory. Everything was good and everyone played an important role.
“We have to be happy with what we did against a very good side who can make things difficult for you. We are very proud of the whole team.”
Meanwhile, PSG coach Unai Emery was not happy with Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi. “It was a pity we didn’t go into the break with the lead but these small actions from the referees did not help us,”he said.
“If you blow for the first penalty (a foul by Lo Celso on Kroos) you have to blow for handball (by Ramos in the box when the ball hit his arm) too.”
He also highlighted a foul on Kimpembe not given before Ronaldo scored Madrid’s second. “We were playing with the aim of scoring a second, we found another refereeing action, a possible foul before the 2-1.
“If the referee was more balanced with both teams we would have been close to a draw or even a victory.”
