Real Madrid coughed up two late goals in the space of two minutes to settle for a 2-2 draw with Paris Saint-Germain in Champions League Group A action on Tuesday night at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.
A draw in Istanbul between Club Brugge and Galatasaray earlier meant that Los Blancos were officially through to the knockout round, but the result in the Spanish capital earns PSG a first-place finish in the group.
It will be a match where head coach Zinedine Zidane will be left wondering how his team did not win, as they produced a slew of chances and were the superior side for the near-duration, only to be felled by superb goalkeeping from former player Keylor Navas and an inexplicable late collapse in which the French visitors struck for two goals.
Zidane's starting XI saw the inclusion of Isco, who had not stared since Madrid's loss at Real Mallorca last month. Things started well for Los Blancos as they broke deadlock thanks to a textbook counter-attack that ended with Karim Benzema firing into net.
It began with Eden Hazard beating a pair of defenders before swinging a pass out wide to Fede Valverde, who played a slick one-two combination with Dani Carvajal. When the Uruguayan received the ball back, he played right to Isco, whose shot hit the post, but Benzema was there to clean things up for a 1-0 lead.
With the goal, Madrid took full control and had the French side pegged back. Toni Kroos looked set to make it two, but he was denied on the first of many top-notch saves from Navas. The Costa Rican goalkeeper had to come to PSG's rescue again later in the half to stop another long-range bullet, this time off the boot of Carvajal, and then a lowly-driven worm-burner from Marcelo.
Controversy flared toward the end of the half when a red-card was issued to Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for a foul on Mauro Icardi in the area, but VAR reversed both that decision and a penalty, indicating that Marcelo had been fouled prior to the PSG break.
Tuchel made a big move at the break by bringing on Neymar for Idrissa Gueye, but things stayed in Madrid's favour and Navas had to bail out his team again when he blocked a Benzema shot from just a yard out.
It was turning into the Keylor Navas Show, as the Costa Rican was pressed into another reaction save on the hour mark via an Isco chance off a cross from Marcelo and thanks to the former Madrid stopper, PSG were still just a goal down with 30 minutes to go.
Some bad luck went Madrid's way when Hazard suffered a knock, thus forcing Zidane into his first change, with Gareth Bale entering the pitch to a mixed chorus of cheers and whistles. That was followed shortly thereafter by Fede Valverde giving up his spot to Luka Modric for the final quarter hour.
Navas could only do so much to keep it a one-goal affair, and the hosts finally tacked on a second when Marcelo curled in a ball to Benzema, who headed back across goal against the soaring Navas to stretch the lead to 2-0.
It was at that moment that Madrid collapsed. The PSG attack had been mostly dormant for the entirety, but it caught a huge break just minutes after the second Benzema goal when miscommunication between Raphael Varane and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois gave Mbappe the easiest of sweeps into net to cut the gap to 2-1.
With a spark of confidence, PSG came with everything in search of the equaliser and it would arrive in short order when a Julian Draxler shot deflected off Varane and fell to Pablo Sarabia, who stunned the Bernabeu by firing into the top right corner to make it 2-2.
In between the two PSG goals, Rodrygo Goes had come on for Isco and the young Brazilian was presented with a chance once the score was level, but instead went for goal alone instead of crossing for Benzema. There was still one last chance for Los Blancos to get the three points and of all people Bale looked poised to do it, but his stoppage time free-kick slammed off the post, much to the exasperation of the Bernabeu faithful.
Source: Marca