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- PSG were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in the Round of 16.
- The Parisian giants blew a 2-0 lead, ultimately losing by a score of 3-2.
- Brazilian winger Neymar reportedly got in an altercation with Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma following the match.
Another year, another wildly embarrassing Champions League choke job from Paris Saint-Germain, who crashed out of the prestigious European football tournament in the Round of 16 following a 3-2 aggregate loss to Real Madrid.
PSG, who went into Wednesday’s match with a 1-0 lead thanks to a 94′ minute goal from superstar Kylian Mbappe in the previous leg, was 45 minutes away from reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League, as they went into halftime in the Spanish capital leading Real Madrid 2-0 on the aggregate scoreline.
That all changed over the course of 17 minutes, though, as 34-year-old French striker Karem Benzema scored an electric hat-trick that saw Real Madrid take the lead over PSG and advance to the next round.
According to reports, following the game — just the latest of many PSG collapse in the Champions League in recent years — 30-year-old Brazilian winger Neymar reportedly squared up with 23-year-old Italian keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the changing room.
A report from ESPN states that the dust-up came as a result of the pair blaming each other for the team’s unceremonious exit from the Champions League, with Neymar blaming Donnarumma for giving up the first goal, and Donnarumma noting that Neymar gave away position in the lead-up to the team’s second concession.
Sources told ESPN that in a separate incident, Neymar and Donnarumma squared up to each other in the dressing room, with the Brazil forward criticizing the goalkeeper for his error ahead of Benzema’s 61st-minute equalizer.
Donnarumma allowed himself to be closed down by Benzema and, as he tried to clear the ball, passed it across goal to Vinicius Junior, who pulled it back for Benzema to make it 1-1.
The keeper responded by pointing out that Neymar had conceded possession ahead of Madrid’s second goal, giving the ball away to Luka Modric, who drove forward to begin the move that ended with Benzema leveling the tie in the 76th minute.
While Neymar has since taken to Instagram to deny that a fight had taken place, the idea of the 5’9 forward — infamously one of the most shameless divers in the sport — squaring up with the absolutely behemoth 6’5″ Donnarumma is a hilarious visual nonetheless. Donnarumma would break Neymar in half as easily as Bane snapped Batman’s back in The Dark Knight Rises.