Real Madrid 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain (Agg: 3-2): Karim Benzema stuns Parisians with second half hat-trick

Karim Benzema's second-half hat-trick turned the tie against Paris St-Germain on its head in one of the most remarkable knock-out games in the history of the Champions League.

PSG were a class above in the first half, with Kylian Mbappe scoring once and he could easily have had another but for a marginal offside.

With a two-goal lead on aggregate the tie looked dead and PSG playing ole football with Mbappe having another goal, which included a magical dummy disallowed.

But then an horrendous error from Gianluigi Donnarumma allowed Benzema to force his clearance to Vinicius Jr and the Brazilian pulled the ball back for the number nine's first goal.

In the 77th minute Benzema equalised with a shot slightly deflected off Marquinhos after a fine through ball from Modric and then, remarkably, straight from the kick off came the winner.

PSG gave the ball away and it was played straight through for Vinicius Jr, although he was dispossessed by Marquinhos' tackle, the ball fell straight to the French striker and he fired home first time for a hat-trick in 16 minutes.

Real Madrid have had more famous nights in the European Cup than any other club but, if you take out the 13 nights which ended with them lifting the famous trophy, this must rank right up there. As for PSG, the after-shocks of this night will be felt for months.

The end for Poch at PSG - Mauricio Pochettino cannot survive this. It was always going to be tough moulding a team from a bunch of superstars and for the first three-quarters of this tie he seemed to have done this. When challenged in the second half, their organisation and character fell apart completely. To be fair there were warnings. In the first half, Marquinhos, the team captain, twice could have given away goals when sloppy around his own area, on one occasion with an errant backheel 12 yards from goal.

In the end it was Donnarumma's awful error which got Real Madrid back into the game and from this point PSG looked hapless in defence. Any ball over the top was easy for Vinicius Jr to get onto and both centre backs could have been replaced by traffic cones. There was no leadership at the back or in midfield. As great as Messi, Mbappe and Neymar are they are not leaders and there was no one taking responsibility when things started to go wrong. To let a goal in 10.5 seconds after they kicked off is incredibly embarrassing in park football, let alone at this level. It is obviously hard to get these players to buy into a team culture but that is what Pochettino was charged with, and he has failed.

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - It was amazing how his game turned as well as the game turning. He had at least three good opportunities with headers which he should have done better with. The genesis of the first goal was his desperation to get his side back into the game, forcing Donnarumma to play an errant pass. His finish from Vincius Junior's low centre was calm beneath the scrambling keeper. Luka Modric, who at 36 is still as good as any midfielder in the world, deserves most of the credit for the second playing through Vincius Jr and then getting the ball back from the Brazilian and playing a sumptuous nutmeg through-ball which a deflection helped into the net. His third though, while the result of shambolic PSG defending, was finished with the first touch of a striker at the very top of his game, sending a dart low into the corner leaving the keeper with no chance.

Real Madrid: Courtois 7, Carvajal 6, Militao 7, Alaba 7, Nacho 6, Valverde 7, Modric 8, Kroos 7, Vinicious Junior 7, Benzema 9*, Asensio 6.

Subs: Camavinga 7, Rodrygo 7, Vasquez 6.

PSG: Donnarumma 4, Hakimi 4, Kimpembe 5, Marquinhos 4, Mendes 6; Danilo 6, Paredes 7, Verratti 6; Neymar 7, Messi 7, Mbappe 8.

Subs: Gueye 5, Di Maria 6, Draxler 6.

34' GOAL FOR PSG - DISALLOWED! Kimpembe played a lovely ball over the top for Mendes who pulled back for Mbappe and he fired in at the near post off the woodwork. The PSG full back was a fraction offside though.

39' GOAL FOR PSG! This one will count. A fine pass through from Neymar into an are of space behind the Real Madrid defence. Mbappe opens his body up and then slams a shot inside the near post which has too much power for Courtois even though he got a hand to it.

54' GOAL FOR PSG - DISALLOWED! What a shame, Neymar played in Mbappe who then did the most outrageous leg-over dummy leaving Courtois scrambling and before going around him and into the net. Sadly, he was clearly offside.

61' GOAL FOR REAL MADRID! What an error. Donnarumma dallying in possession and Benzema forced a bad pass which went straight to Vinicius Jr who pulls back for the French striker who slotted home.

74' WHAT A CHANCE FOR VINICIUS! Benzema tried to play over to Rodrygo but Kimpembe's block fell straight to Vinicius and he blazed over the bar. He had to do better.

77' GOAL FOR REAL MADRID! Benzema scores again. Vinicius was played through by Modric and though the PSG defenders came back to block him, he got the ball back across to Modric and he slide a marvellous ball through to Benzema whose effort deflected slightly off Marquinhos and past Donnarumma.

78' GOAL FOR REAL MADRID! Unbelievable. A ball was played through for Vinicius almost straight from the kick off. The ball was taken off him by Marquinhos straight to Benzema and his first time finish beat Donnarumma.