Guillem Balague: Master craftsman Ronaldo gives apprentice Mbappe a harsh lesson as Zidane slams the door shut on PSG

From the 2010-11 season to the present day Real Madrid have either won or made the semi-finals of the Champions League. But for a while, for perhaps 80 minutes in the first leg, many of us believed that Paris Saint-Germain were going to prevent them from progressing into the quarter finals this time around.

In the battle between the wily old veteran and the lippy – but precociously talented – upstart, PSG received a metaphorical clip around the ear from their elders, as Real Madrid once again showed the world that when it comes to the Champions League never, ever, bet against them.

So what happened? What do we learn from the tie?

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If Zinedine Zidane has shown us anything in his reign at the Santiago Bernabeu it is that while he is hardly a master tactician he does know his own mind and has always been loyal to his ideas.

This is seen at its best by the decisions he makes in picking his starting XI. That’s how it was with the BBC (Bale, Benzema, Cristiano) up front until injuries forced his hand and brought Isco into the equation. Now that everyone is fit and well again he is of the opinion that, for instance, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio would do a better job for him than Bale in Paris, and he was proved right.

Great substitutions in the first leg turned the tie around too for a Real Madrid side who, lest we forget, had been dominated for about 80 minutes by the French side. It was never going to happen at the Parc de Princes where his starting XI proved more than a match for their opponents.

Talk surrounding Real Madrid’s indifferent performances in the league has suggested that it is not so much a matter of, if, but when Zizou would be clearing his desk. But with the likes of Pochettino, Klopp and Low going nowhere this is a Real Madrid that are short of managerial options and so Zidane, should he so wish, could well continue.

The only potential stumbling block, is whether or not he can maintain this level of competitiveness over the course of a whole season and not merely on a one-off basis? But new galácticos are on their way and with some departures, Real could convince Zidane to try his hand at trying to win all again.

Where to begin with the phenomena that is Cristiano Ronaldo who proved yet again that not only he is the man for the big occasion, but also the best goalscorer ever; the ‘matador’ par excellence.

We must enjoy him while we can because in terms of pure killer instinct we might never see his like again. Once again it was his opener that administered the coup de grace that killed the hopes of PSG.

And yet this was a game where his performance changed from the first to the second half. In the first half with the absence of Kroos and Modric we saw a Ronaldo who played like a man who felt he had to roll his sleeves up, put in a shift to help the team. So, early on he went deep, wide, did those simple things that top players do in the early stages of big games, with easy touches, short passes, the declaration of an intention to dominate; a crowd silencer.

At half time he must have been told to get into the box more, to stretch the defence and what followed were two cameos, the first a header that almost sneaked in and then the move that saw Asensio rob Alves and then find Lucas Vazquez. Ronaldo was the furthest attacker from the ball only intervening at the end to administer a finish as clinical as it was inevitable; a goal that defined just who he is and just what his value is to this Real Madrid side.

And what of PSG and poor Unai Emery who must be enormously disappointed with the performance of his team and who I am convinced saw nothing of what he would have planned for the visit of the current champions.

What he saw was a side that hardly created a chance in the first half following a performance where it was difficult to see any specific pattern of play. A team that despite the millions spent on it still looks very much like a work in progress, despite the massive efforts made by Emery in building it.

The atmosphere created by a hostile crowd, many of whom were ultra supporters – and, by the way, UEFA need to take a serious look at the number of flares brought into the stadium and take immediate action – plus an aggressive media that cranked up the pressure prior to the game, should have been capitalised on by PSG from the start. It wasn’t.

And that shouldn’t really surprise us because when it comes to creating an atmosphere designed to unsettle the opponents before a ball is kicked there are no greater exponents of this dark art than Real Madrid themselves. On Tuesday night at the Parc de Princes, PSG definitively discovered the truth of the well-worn phrase that one of the hardest things to do is to ‘kid a kidder’, or as the English would say ‘try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.’

When you have everything in your favour – crowd, media, even public opinion – then things can occur when you try to bully your opponent. Not always intentionally but almost accidentally as a direct consequence of the pressure being put on. Balls in the box, pressure high up the pitch, organised chaos that makes things happen. But not here, not on Tuesday, where this Real Madrid side never looked anything less than comfortable with and without the ball.

In football people talk about finding an extra gear. Forget that. This was a PSG that never really got further than second gear.

And what of the wunderkind that is Kylian Mbappe?

To get the best out of Mbappe you have to create the conditions that allow him to show you just how good he is. A team that plays for him, tries to find him and he does the rest. At times this was a PSG that looked like three separate team comprising Mbappe on his own, Cavani by himself and then the rest.

Most importantly in front of a watching world he showed that actually he is not yet the finished article making a number of wrong decisions when he did have the ball. Hopefully he will learn from the experience to go on to become the kind of player everyone knows he can be.

Many will cite the lack of competitiveness in the French league as one of the main reason why PSG have fallen short in Europe. They will say that it creates a situation where people are led into a false sense of security and into believing that they are better than they actually are.

In boxing terms it bears comparison with the fighter with a long string of knockouts on his unbeaten record that suddenly finds himself coming up short when facing an opponent that actually hits him back.

In truth what the lack of competiveness in the league does is to create a side so used to playing on ‘cruise control’ that when the time comes in European competition that they have to dig deep, go the extra mile, be more aggressive especially without the ball, they are found wanting.

Despite the result, probably the least content of the Real Madrid camp at the moment will be Gareth Bale.

With Lucas putting in a fantastic shift, and Asensio growing more and more into the game this will have been a salutary lesson for Bale who will now know that his name and huge price tag are not going to be enough to guarantee his place in the starting line up.

This is the second major game which has seen Bale start from the bench, a clear indication that Zidane has lost confidence in the Welshman, and Bale will also be feeling this. It’s a difficult situation with, on the one hand, Zidane, perhaps feeling that Bale hasn’t given him enough while Bale will probably be of the opinion that the lack of confidence shown in him is what is affecting his performances.

I am not convinced that his recuperation has been ideal and even though he is now 100% fit it has dawned on him that if the Champions League final where to be played tomorrow then he would be unlikely to figure in the first XI

For the first time, therefore, the likelihood of him moving on has become a distinct possibility. Forget Spurs, that isn’t going to happen, but Manchester United will certainly be trying for him although they certainly won’t be the only suitor.

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Can Real Madrid win it? Can they possibly do the unthinkable and win a third Champions League in a row? You bet they can, but whether they will or not remains to be seen.

History shows us that from the moment Real Madrid qualified for the last 16 they became favourites because of their track record and experience in negotiating this particular stage of the competition.

With a top four league finish extremely likely although not yet totally guaranteed, it’s safe to say that this is the competition that will most certainly be getting most of their undivided attention from now until the end of the season.

And once again, and for the umpteenth time, it’s that man Ronaldo that holds the key. Once again he is proving in every sense of the word, that it’s not how you start but how you finish that matters in football.

With 11 goals in the last six games, 12 goals so far in this season’s Champions League and on the scoresheet for the past nine consecutive CL games, anything is possible.

At the moment the only side I can see capable of bursting Real Madrid’s Champions League bubble is Manchester City. Am I having a bet on it? No chance. Remember, never ever, bet against Real Madrid.