Every fairy tale has a classical structure. An equilibrium is disturbed by a problem, then a struggle to right the wrong ensues, but it ends well. Stef Wijnants was in the Real Madrid stadium on Wednesday evening and tells how he saw the fairytale of Real against PSG being written.
Rosy start: Real believes in its chances
“Once upon a time there was a magical evening in Madrid.” This is how Real supporters will start in a few years when they tell about Real – PSG from last night.
A fairy tale begins with a balance. PSG may have won the first leg, but the belief that the 1-0 could still be rectified at home was great in Madrid.
“Already around 5 pm, four hours before the match, there was a crowd of people around the stadium,” says Stef Wijnants. “There was something in the air. A positive vibe, something like ‘we are Real and we want to get the new rich from PSG’.”
The images of the Real team bus arriving at the stadium actually said enough.
Real Madrid is a theatre. People come to see their gods at work, but they saw that the greatest god was playing at PSG.
The balance is disturbed: Mbappé scores
Slowly the atmosphere in the stadium changed. PSG took control of the match, created the better chances and the man everyone was talking about in the build-up to this match scored the 0-1.
Kylian Mbappe put Real in front of a huge problem. “It was quiet in the stadium. Real don’t have fans like Dortmund or Roma.”
“Real Madrid is a theatre. People come there to see their gods at work, but they saw that the greatest god of the moment is playing with the opponent.”
“They seemed to resign themselves to PSG’s dominance. As if they had to crawl through the dust in hopes of appeasing that god to convince him to come and play with them next year.”
The climax: Benzema and the audience do the haunting
An hour into the story of the match, everything changed. Goalkeeper Donnarruma blunders.
“The beginning of a magical night, a magical evening. The theater turned into a swirling mass, so the players couldn’t help but believe that it was still possible.”
“Conversely, the players on the field were constantly whipping the audience up with their arms. You should watch the video of the good Modric in the dressing room after the match. You can see the adrenaline running off the image.” (see below)
The atmosphere after Benzema’s 3-1
At PSG, no more than two or three players went to greet their fans.
Happy End: Courtois penalty save on Messi turned out to be important
After the match, of course, a Madrid folk festival broke out. “Almost no one left the stadium.”
“It must have been double for Eden Hazard. He was warming up all the time during the match and watched, without coming in. But after the match he really celebrated. You can see that he is well in the group. Courtois walked all around the stadium.”
“At PSG, no more than two or three players went to greet their fans.”
“Real is not going to win the Champions League. PSG should always have qualified in two games, but Thibaut Courtois was right in his podcast.”
“His save from Messi’s penalty in the first leg would only count if Real could qualify. Now we know: the save counted.”
