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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Karim Benzema breaks Champions League record with hat-trick in epic Real Madrid comeback

Karim Benzema broke a Champions League record as he led Real Madrid to their incredible comeback victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

PSG had seemed certain to be heading through to the last eight when Kylian Mbappe fired them in front in the first half against the side who are chasing his signature this summer, with the France World Cup winner also seeing goals ruled out for offside either side of half-time.

However, as Real increased the pressure in the second period the PSG defence began to crack.

An error from Gianluigi Donnarumma allowed Benzema to pull one goal back just after the hour mark, and from there the PSG defence went from creaking to completely broken.

Benzema's treble stunned PSG and took Real through (Getty Images)

Benzema scored twice more in the 76th and 78th minutes to turn the tie around completely, with his second strike coming after a terrible error from defender Marquinhos.

The goals completed a stunning turnaround for Real, and ensured a place in the record books for their veteran French forward.

That's because at the age of 34 years and 80 days, Benzema is now the oldest player to ever score a hat-trick in the Champions League, and record which was previously held by Olivier Giroud and which Benzema has now pipped the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to.

Benzema's total tally in the competition now stands at 76 goals, placing him fourth in the all-time list behind Ronaldo, Messi and Robert Lewandowski, who also scored a hat-trick in the Champions League against Salzburg on Wednesday night.

Working on the match as a pundit for BT Sport, former Real Madrid forward Michael Owen said: "This game will go down in history.

"We have seen some unbelievable Champions League ties and this is another one.

"I couldn't see any way Real could get back into this. They didn't look like scoring but then Karim Benzema... What a player!"

Gary Lineker also tweeted in praise of Benzema, writing simply: "Karim Benzema is indisputably one of the greatest number nines of all-time."

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