Injury-hit Real Madrid held Paris Saint-Germain to a goalless draw in the French capital to take charge of Champions League Group A.
The visitors were without a raft of their biggest stars, including Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema, for the trip to Paris but were happy with a stalemate and could even have nicked all three points.
Cristiano Ronaldo started as the lone striker for Madrid, but for once it was the Spanish giants worried by the glittering attacking line-up of their opponents.
It was Ronaldo who had the best chance of the game in the first half, but he couldn’t get enough on Marcelo’s cross to divert it home from six yards.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani struggled for the hosts as Laurent Blanc’s side laboured against a defence that has now conceded just two goals in all competitions this season.
Keylor Navas has kept nine clean sheets in eleven games, and made an impressive save late-on to extend his record.
Depleted Madrid turn to youth
It wasn’t through choice that Rafael Benitez opted to field a Real Madrid youth product on either flank in Paris.
Indeed, if people thought Real Madrid were a one-man team before tonight, the sight of them lining up in what was essentially a 4-4-1-Ronaldo won’t have dismissed those ideas.
The truth is that Madrid haven’t been reliant on the Portuguese this season, Benzema and Navas have won them far more points, but in the central role that he shined in at the weekend, Ronaldo had the expectation fully on his shoulders at the Parc Des Princes.
Fortunately for Benitez, his defence was largely first-choice, with Sergio Ramos having an injection so that he could start alongside Frenchman Raphael Varane and flanked by Danilo and Marcelo.
The midfield saw Isco getting a rare chance in the centre, with Toni Kroos orchestrating proceedings and Casemiro as his destroyer and security blanket.
Lucas Vazquez and Jese flanked Ronaldo up front.
On the defensive
Some well-placed comments from Blanc put the pressure squarely on Benitez ahead of this game.
“People know our style of play. We like to have the ball," Blanc said. "Real are quite defensive but they are very effective. These are two different philosophies that will now meet.”
Benitez was already under fire from the Spanish press for being too conservative in the Madrid derby, where his side threw away a 1-0 lead to only take a point and could even have lost as Atletico put them under pressure late on.
And so the Spaniard was forced to deny the claims, claiming the stats back that up and pointing out that his side are top scorers in La Liga (as well as having the best defence).
Aside from the debate of whether Benitez’s teams are too defensive - which there isn’t really space for here - it seemed fairly obvious that the PSG boss was trying to force a depleted Madrid onto the front foot at the Parc des Princes.
That would, of course, have suited Paris Saint-Germain, who boast a thrilling front four - three of whom are lightning quick on the counter attack.
Benitez didn’t fall for it though.
He set his side up in the aforementioned 4-4-1-Ronaldo and trusted in the quality of the players out there to create chances.
Counter-counter
Indeed, with Madrid pretending not to be defensive but being defensive and Paris Saint-Germain scared to push on themselves for fear of the counter-attack, it produced a game where two sides wanted to counter and neither really tried to dominate possession.
Instead, possession was simply something that the teams toyed with cautiously, producing a first half of incredibly high pass completion rates with no-one’s higher than Kroos, who completed 49 of 49.
But it meant few real chances.
Real Madrid had the best two in the first half, Isco having a one-on-one saved by Kevin Trapp from an angle and then Ronaldo, who should have done better from Marcelo’s cross.
The second half was more PSG’s but it was a tight, nip-and-tuck game which suited the injury-hit visitors’ desire for a point.
PSG forwards fire blanks
Who was worse - Edinson Cavani or Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
It’s a tough one, with the Uruguayan a complete no-show once again and Zlatan (“oh, he revels in being on the big stage”) not revelling in being on the big stage.
Two of the biggest flat-track bullies in European football over the past few years? Quite possibly.
It’s curious that given the catalogue of world footballing greats that Zlatan has represented - Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG - he has never won a Champions League.
League titles? Plenty. Because he can run rough-shod over the minnows of these divisions. But there seems to be something about having him in a team that distracts from a cohesive structure.
And the kindest thing that can be said about Cavani is that he is played out of position. Though it doesn’t excuse everything we saw tonight.
Luk who’s back
Looking to see out the game and take the point, Luka Modric returned from a knock sustained on international duty to help out Real Madrid from the bench.
It was only 20 minutes, but the sight of Modric back alongside Kroos - who had his best game of the season - will be welcomed by Benitez and fans alike.
As far as calm, metronomic midfields go, it is one of the best you’ll see. And they improve the players in front of them with their vision and passing.
They’ll need to, as well, with a trip to top-of-the-table Celta Vigo on Saturday.