Ramos: You can never take Real Madrid for dead

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos says his side showed they can never be written off after their 3-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.

Adrien Rabiot gave the Ligue 1 leaders the advantage in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie before the holders responded with a brilliant comeback.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty made it 1-1 before the Portugal star and Marcelo scored a goal each in the space of three minutes in the closing stages at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The victory puts Zinedine Zidane’s side in a commanding position ahead of the visit to Parc des Princes next month and Ramos was hugely proud of his team’s efforts.

“It was an important victory,” he said, as quoted by AS. “These are Champions League days to be remembered and what better way to do it than with this personality and this important win.

“We have a serious team. We’ve done a great job and the result is fair.

100 – Cristiano Ronaldo is the first player in #UCL history to score 100 goals for the same club. Love. pic.twitter.com/LgpeBVYSTV

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 14, 2018

“We had that effectiveness in front of goal that we’ve been missing in other games, we joined the lines… congratulations to the team for their work.

“There’s no time for regrets. Despite the goal, we kept looking for the win with a lot of personality. You can never take Madrid for dead.”

Madrid will now be favourites to progress but PSG have a daunting home record this term, having won every single match in the capital in 2017-18.

They also famously overturned a 3-1 deficit to Madrid in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1993, winning the second leg on home soil 4-1 to go through.

And Ramos is under no illusion that the tie should be considered over already.

“We have to stay respectful. We’ve taken a very important step but the tie is open,” he said.

Madrid visit PSG for the second leg on March 6.