HAZARD SUBBED ON FOR UCL CLASH

Eden Hazard was a second half substitute as Real Madrid lost 1-0 to hosts Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) round of 16 tie.Real Madrid came close to leaving the French capital with an impressive draw before Frenchman KylianMbappe struck in the fourth minute of added time to secure a lead for the French Ligue 1 leaders ahead of the second leg at the Estadio Santiago Bernebeu in March.

The pre-match reactions ahead of the first leg was dominated by Mbappe who has been linked with a summer move to Real Madrid after the Spanish team failed to prise him away from PSG last summer. Mbappe had a year left on his PSG contract as at last summer and Real Madrid offered €220m for the ex-AS Monaco attacker, but the French giants were adamant that the player is not for sale.

PSG dominated Real Madrid when the two teams met at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, and the Spanish La Liga leaders were fortunate not leave Paris with more than one goal conceded.Real Madrid offered little threat in attack despite the return of star player Karim Benzema from injury. The French international striker had been missing in action for three weeks due to a hamstring problem.

French giants PSG could have taken a lead into the break if Argentine player Angel Di Maria and French national team striker Mbappe were clinical with their chances. In the second half, Lionel Messi had a penalty savedby Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Brazilian substitute Neymar came close to netting the first goal of the game before Mbappe produced a world-class moment to win the game for PSG in the 94^th minute.

Eden Hazard came on for Vinicius Junior in the final seven minutes of the game, but he could not win the game for Real Madrid. Eden Hazard has been a Real Madrid substitute in the last three games.