Five reasons to believe Real Madrid can produce a comeback vs PSG
The Champions League last 16 second legs are just around the corner and Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain immediately jumps off the fixture list. PSG take a 1-0 lead to the Bernabéu on Wednesday night, but Real Madrid’s fans and players believe a comeback is possible.
It certainly won’t be easy, not least with Ferland Mendy and Casemiro suspended and Toni Kroos doubtful, but there are several reasons for Real Madrid fans to be optimistic. Here comes a discussion of five of them.
Improvement since the first leg
Real Madrid were terrible in the first leg in Paris, but that wasn’t such a surprise since they had been playing poorly domestically too in the run-up to that visit to the Parc des Princes. Since then, though, Carlo Ancelotti’s side have improved results and performances, winning all three of their LaLiga Santander matches. The Italian described Saturday’s 4-1 win at home to Real Sociedad as “maybe our best performance of the season”.
The return of pressing
Early in the season, Ancelotti quite explicitly decided to stop trying to press. “We don’t have midfielders who can do that,” he said. In response, Real Madrid adopted a low block and relied on counter-attacking goals, moments of genius from Vinícius and Benzema and outside-the-box shots. Over the past three weeks, however, Los Blancos have worked to try to bring back some form of a pressing game and they were excellent in this regard on Saturday against Real Sociedad. “By executing the press well tonight, we have a better chance of being able to do that on Wednesday,” Ancelotti said afterwards.
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Eduardo Camavinga
Eduardo Camavinga is a special but raw talent. On Wednesday, he is likely to be unleashed because of a suspension to Casemiro, an injury concern to Toni Kroos and the fact that the Frenchman turned in an excellent performance in the Saturday win over Real Sociedad. Although Camavinga might be positioned as the replacement for Casemiro, which isn’t his ideal position, just having his energy and flair on the pitch could be a decisive factor. The same goes for Fede Valverde, who could also start. As much as the Modrić, Kroos and Casemiro trio are still excellent, it might be a blessing in disguise for the Spanish side that a more youthful midfield will have to play on Wednesday.
The biggest Bernabéu crowd in two years
Real Madrid will be well-supported on Wednesday night, with tickets for this game selling out even before they reached the general public sale. Some parts of the Bernabéu are still out of use because of the ongoing works, but this will be the biggest home crowd in over two years as around 60,000 are expected. The atmosphere can sometimes be quite tame at the Bernabéu, but that won’t be the case on Wednesday as the fans know the importance of this tie. They have adopted the comeback spirit, even chanting “yes we can” in unison at the end of Saturday’s win, which got the Real Madrid players to come back out from the dressing room to applaud.
No away goals rule
As well as a home advantage, there’s the fact that there is no longer any home disadvantage. For Real Madrid to have lost the away first leg 1-0 would have been a lot tougher to overcome when the away goals rule still existed, but now their lack of an away goal and the possibility of PSG scoring on the road isn’t so daunting. Even if the French side ripple the net at the Bernabéu, a 2-1 victory will still be good enough to force extra time, with Los Blancos then having the advantage of playing those extra 30 minutes on their own turf.
