Paris Saint Germain 0 - 0 Real Madrid: Paris St Germain and Real Madrid draw blank in Champions League encounter

Posted Thursday, October 22, 2015 by PA

Paris St Germain and Real Madrid played out a goalless Champions League draw at the Parc des Princes.

The teams went into the encounter in France unbeaten in all competitions and with Group A wins in the European competition over Skahkhtar Donetsk and Malmo.

The 0-0 result means that neither PSG nor Real have conceded a goal in the first three games in the pool.

The closest either side came to scoring was in the 73rd minute when a fast break from the visitors saw Marcelo feed Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese star, with only PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to beat, struck his effort just wide of the far post.

Ronaldo had four other opportunities to score but failed to take them.

The hosts dominated possession but forced Real keeper Keylor Navas to make just one save.

The outcome in Paris has left both sides on seven points at the top of the standings.

They are four points clear third-place Malmo, who won 1-0 over Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Spaniards went into the contest without the services of injured players Gareth Bale, Pepe, Dani Carvajal, James Rodriguez and Karim Benzema.

To complicate matters for Real coach Rafael Benitez, Croatian midfielder Mateo Kovacic suffered a muscle injury prior to the encounter in Paris.

The hosts threatened in the 11th minute but Blaise Matuidi's attempt from the edge of the area was kept out by Navas.

Five minutes later and PSG threatened but Thiago Silva headed Thiago Motta's free-kick just over the bar.

Real could have gone ahead in the 26th minute.

Toni Kroos' pass sent Jese through on goal and the Spaniard struck a right-footed shot that was kept out by PSG goalkeeper Trapp.

Ten minutes later and Ronaldo's powerful header from Kroos' cross was saved by Trapp.

Trapp denied Real a 1-0 lead before the break when he saved Casemiro's diagonal strike from just outside the area.

PSG showed more intent after the re-start and had a great chance to break the deadlock in the 49th minute.

Motta's inviting cross from the left found Edinson Cavani in the box and his first touch just went wide of Navas' near post.

At the other end, Ronaldo's powerful free-kick hit PSG's wall.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffered the same fate on the hour when the PSG forward sent his free-kick straight at the wall as neither side could find an opening.

PSG coach Laurent Blanc made a double substitution five minutes later with Javier Pastore and Lucas Moura replacing Cavani and former Real star Angel Di Maria after their disappointing performances.

In the 75th minute, Moura saw his powerful header from Matuidi's perfect cross go over the bar.

With six minutes remaining, Ronaldo's free-kick was cleared by Silva as both teams settled for a draw ahead of their meeting at the Bernabeu stadium in a fortnight.