The next few weeks are not going to be easy after Paris St-Germain let a 2-0 aggregate lead slip in their exit from the European Championship to Real Madrid.
With an hour gone in the second leg, the visitors were in complete control thanks to Kylian Mbappe's second goal.
They were left stunned by the 17-minute hat-trick by Benzema and suffered another painful exit from the competition.
The first goal byBenzema completely changed the game.
We were better than Real Madrid for an hour. There was a change in the atmosphere. We made some mistakes after that. We lost the tie in 10 minutes, but we were the better side.
Paris St-Germain have been trying to get into the playoffs for a long time.
I am really disappointed, but these things can happen. The next few weeks are going to be difficult.
Since moving under the ownership of the Qataris, they have assembled a number of stars.
Their dreams of winning European club football's elite competition have been undermined by several collapses from winning positions, including the 6-1 loss by Barcelona in the last 16 of the competition in 2019.
We have been here before. This is a huge failure many times. A lot is down to the players on the pitch, according to French football journalist Julien Laurens.
I can tell you thatPochettino will not be there next season, unless they can get Zidane in. I think he wants to be in England.
His family is still in London and he has been in a hotel in Paris for a year. You cannot let your team sink like they did tonight. He has been too quick to react.
Laurens questioned whether the players had the right focus to improve their away form, as they have won just one of four matches on their travels since the start of the season.
Laurens said that the goalkeeping situation is crazy. You don't know who will play next.
The away form is not good enough. They don't put the effort in away from home. They can not grind out a result under pressure.
When you have thrown away leads like this, you are still in control. They came back to haunt them because of the European league.
Steve McManaman, a former England and Real Madrid player, gave a damning assessment of another failure in the competition.
The leaders of the French league have reached the final and semi-finals in each of the past two seasons, but have also been knocked out at the last-16 stage in four of the past six campaigns.
We expected that to happen. When they come under pressure, they melt away.
There was no organization or leadership. The players are powerful. They don't care when the going gets tough. They play what they want to play.
When the going gets tough, you have to have four or five players.
PSG made a lot of mistakes in the second half. You have to give Real credit because they stay in the game even when they are down.
Managers come and go and they can't sort it out. They come, they get knocked out of the competition and then get sacked.
Rio Ferdinand said it was the mentality and culture of the club.
This isn't something new at the club. They have great talent in the squad, but they have to stay in the game when the mentality isn't right. They did not do that. It is a part of the culture.
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