THE Bernabeu is still his stage.
Cristiano Ronaldo, match-winner in this remarkable first leg, is still the main man at Real Madrid.
Do not let anybody tell you differently.
He turned up, scoring both goals for Real Madrid on a night when Neymar was supposed to show he mean business.
Ronnie showed him a trick or two out there.
Paris Saint-Germain, for all their wealth, all their ambition and all their fancy footwork, fell apart.
Ronnie, world player of the year, made certain of that.
He scored his 100th Champions League goal in Real Madrid colours when he equalised from the penalty spot 44 minutes in and struck again seven minutes from time.
PSG, too busy arguing among themselves to keep it tight at 2-1, conceded again when Marcelo popped up five minutes from the end.
The repercussions for PSG and their head coach Unai Emery will be huge – i.e. he will be sacked – if they cannot overturn this in the second leg.
Ronnie got his first from the spot, walloping his penalty beyond PSG keeper Alphonse Areola just before the break.
His strike was true, even though the ball jumped into the air when he planted his left foot into the turf.
The Bernabeu bobble did not bother him.
He owns this place, rising to his acclaim once again after he brought Zinedine Zidane’s side back into this dizzying first leg.
There was so much energy about the place, old money against new money in the battle of the sport’s superpowers.
Ronaldo, at 33, is lapping it up.
Their prized possession is not quite ready to hand it all over to some young whipper-snapper just yet.
The defending champions had been given the runaround in the first half, chasing shadows as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe jinked and tricked their way past those white shirts.
Ronaldo still has the desire, following up his weekend hat-trick against Real Sociedad with two crucial strikes.
PSG are strong, powerful and mighty ambitious, but they were not ready for Real to bamboozle them.
There were boos for the pantomime villain Neymar, jeered when he rolled the ball down his arm to get a shot away on goal.
Then there were howls of derision, protests from Real Madrid’s players when he lost his rag to chop down Marco Verratti.
He was booked.
They already knew Neymar’s name, having nightmares about it when his delicious backheel set up Adrien Rabiot for PSG’s opener.
Edinson Cavani tore down the right, finding Neymar and his first touch fell into the path of the onrushing Rabiot.
INTERACTIVE STATS – CLICK on the categories to find out how the teams fared
His finish was classy and composed, rolling his effort beyond Real Madrid keeper Keylor Navas.
The defending champions were in danger of being toppled in their own backyard, beaten by the big fish from France. Gulp.
This was sink or swim, with Real Madrid fighting for breath in a competition they have made their own over the past few seasons.
Ronnie was up for it and so were Real.
They won a penalty when the magisterial figure of Toni Kroos was upended by Giovani Lo Celso a minute before the break.
By then it had turned into a belting game.
It was dizzying out there at times, a Champions League tie played at breakneck speed between two of European football’s superpowers.
Soon enough one of them will have to make way.
INTERACTIVE STATS – CLICK on a player’s number below to see their stats
Sergio Ramos got away with a huge penalty shout in the second half, escaping punishment when the ball hit the Real skipper on the arm.
Zidane made changes, sending for Gareth Bale to replace Karim Benzema with 20 minutes left to play.
Ronaldo raised his game again, touching in a deflection after Marco Asensio crossed from the left before Marcelo made it three.
This was Real’s night, a brutal reminder that the Champions League still belongs to them.
After this, it will take something special to take it off them.
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