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You know when they say you're the architect of your own doom, that, and even perhaps a stronger appellation is what describes the fate of Paris Saint Germain last night in the hands of Real Madrid despite sitting on a comfortable two-goal lead for a better part of the game.
PSG had won the first leg by a lone goal courtesy of a late Kylian Mbappe strike. The Frenchman was even a doubt for the game as he missed their loss to Nice over the weekend.
Gladly for the French giants, Mbappe made it in time to be fit for the game and importantly, he was influential in the opening stages, testing Thibaut Courtois on different occasions and even had a goal ruled out for offside against Nuno Mendes who had supplied him the final ball.
Real Madrid understandably were in search of a goal to draw parity and move from there, but in the process, they left their defence open like a grazing field and trust Mbappe's speed to capitalize.
Neymar pounced on a loose ball and with just a touch sent Mbappe in the clear with David Alaba trying to close him down. The PSG striker used the defender as a shield and fired into the near post, even though Courtois got a hand to it.
Alaba could have done better to prevent that goal. He made up his mind to block the far post and in the process opened the near post, which, watching Mbappe's reaction, he just saw that window and changed his mind to hit it into the near post.
From there, I saw PSG running away with the game and would have thought that the best Madrid could conjure was a consolation goal and at most drag the game into extra time. We didn't know what was coming. Till now I'm struggling to understand how PSG capitulated and conceded three goals.
The first was disastrous and Gianluigi Donnarumma would be kicking himself, knowing that his howler opened the floodgates for Madrid to capitalize. I understand some PSG fans may be furious that a foul was not given for the tackle by Karim Benzema, but it was fair and what he only did was to close down the goalkeeper and force the error. Goalkeepers should understand that football is a contact sport and not feel they would be overprotected. I still remember the case with David de Gea in the game against Arsenal.
After receiving a back-pass from Marco Veratti, Donnarumma held onto the ball for too long, allowing Benzema to close him down and his eventual clearance ran to Vinicius Jr on the left. The Brazilian then teed up Benzema who slotted into the bottom left corner, same side and angle his compatriot had scored earlier.
That singular action was a catalyst for what was to come as Madrid immediately snatched the momentum and in a frenzy two minutes of madness turned the game around.
Luka Modric threaded the ball through the legs of a Presnel Kimpembe to find Benzema, who hit his shot on the turn and it took a slight deflection of Marquinhos into the net. The Madrid striker was not done as he completed his hat-trick seconds later, this time, with a first-time shot from a poor Marquinhos clearance to send the Bernabeu into pandemonium.
Benzema may have scored a hat-trick, but much credit should go to the midfield maestro himself, Luka Modric. The Croatian is the definition of old wine tastes finer. He ran the midfield ragged and the ease with which he played didn't portray a 36-year old in any way. He was arguably the most agile and mobile player in that middle and his creativity was key to Real Madrid's turnaround.
Credit of course cannot be taken away from Benzema, who has now moved one goal ahead of Madrid legend, Raul Gonzalez who netted 66 for the Los Blancos in the Champions League and only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 105.
I have seen reports that the PSG owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi barged into the official's office after the game to allegedly protest the foul on Donnarumma not given. If this story is true, I believe he should be tearing into his players instead as they had no business losing that game yesterday. They were ahead, in control and looked very comfortable.
Mauricio Pochettino should have known better to manage the game. But I wonder if even after the coach's instruction, he would have to step on the pitch to play for his team. The players have to take full responsibility.
After conceding that first goal, it was a red flag for them to get compact and repel Madrid, but again, the "spirit" of Madrid in the Champions League just was too hot for them to handle.
I believe they brought Lionel Messi to win them them the Champions League, but again, just like the first leg, he failed to come to the party. He was clearly marked out and the only goal-scoring opportunity he got was from a tight angle, which he clipped over Courtois but was cleared by Nacho.
I think it's high time Mbappe left the comfort of Paris and switch to the Bernabeu. His performance over the two legs was enough audition for the Madrid hierarchy to see what he could bring to the team and what an addition he'd be to that Madrid side.
Now PSG have to return to their "farmers league" and hope that Nice don't do a Real Madrid for them.