European champions Real Madrid roared back to life from a dismal domestic campaign, coming from behind to beat Paris St Germain 3-1 in a Champions League last-16 first leg on Wednesday.
Adrien Rabiot smashed the run away Ligue 1 leaders into the lead in the 33rd minute.
But Cristiano Ronaldo levelled from the penalty spot on the stroke of halftime, scoring his record 100th Champions League goal for Real to set up a pulsating second half.
Ronaldo put Real in front in the 83rd minute with a scrappy strike from close range.
Brazilian left back Marcelo further stretched the lead in the 86th, giving PSG a tough task in the second leg at the Parc des Princes on March 6.
The tie pitted 12-times European champions Real against the Qatar-backed Parisians who have never gone beyond the quarter-finals in the competition.
PSG, however, boasted an attacking trio that cost over 460 million euros (408.67 million pounds) to assemble in transfer fees alone. The two squads’ combined cost exceeded 1.2 billion euros.
“This is a very important victory, these Champions League games are nights you always want to remember and we showed exactly how you need to play,” Real captain Sergio Ramos told reporters.
In the second match for the night, Liverpool smashed 5 goals past a hapless Porto. Sadio Mane scored a hat-trick as Liverpool marked their first Champions League knockout game for nine years with an emphatic victory at Porto.
Mane opened the scoring when home goalkeeper Jose Sa failed to hold his placed strike.
Mohamed Salah then showed wonderful composure to steer the ball home for Liverpool’s second and his 30th of an incredible debut season at the club.
With two away goals scored, the visitors could have been forgiven for taking a more conservative approach but instead they went for more.
A swift Liverpool counter-attack ended with Sa spilling Roberto Firmino’s shot into Mane’s path and the striker made no mistake, before Firmino scored his 21st of the season, sweeping home James Milner’s cross.
Mane got his third with a driven strike late on to become the first Liverpool player to score a hat-trick away from home in Europe since Michael Owen in 2002, and the second ever.
Porto had lost only two matches in all competitions this season prior to Wednesday’s game but simply could not cope with Liverpool’s unstoppable forward line.
