Mauricio Pochettino Says PSG "Were The Better Side" After UCL Collapse Vs Real Madrid

Author:
Robert Summerscales
Publish date:
Mar 9, 2022 6:28 PM EST

Mauricio Pochettino believes the "better side" lost after his Paris Saint-Germain team exited the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid.

PSG throughly dominated the first leg in Paris last month as Real failed to register a single shot on target in a 1-0 loss.

The French side took the lead in the second leg too and were 2-0 up on aggregate at half-time in Madrid.

Kylian Mbappe had scored both of Real's goal across the two legs and he was looking hungry for more. He had two more goals disallowed for offside in the first half.

But Karim Benzema stole Mbappe's thunder after the interval on Wednesday night.

Mauricio Pochettino looks dejected as he watches his PSG side during their 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid
IMAGO/Jose Breton

Benzema pressed PSG keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma into a mistake to make it 1-1 on the night. That goal came on 61 minutes.

PSG had looked in control for a hour but all of a sudden they were shaken and Benzema pounced to score twice more - on 76 and 78 minutes - sealing a hat-trick and a 3-2 victory on aggregate.

Pochettino said after the game, as reported by BBC Sport: "The first goal completely changed the game.

For an hour, we were better than Real Madrid. The atmosphere changed in the stadium.

"We made some mistakes after that, we can't say we didn't. The worst feeling is that we were the better side, but we lost the tie in 10 minutes.

"Paris Saint-Germain have been chasing the Champions League for a number of years now. I'm really disappointed, upset – but these things can happen. The next few weeks are not going to be easy."