MADRID -- Felicia Schröder delivered a performance worthy of a star-in-waiting in Real Madrid's 1-1 UEFA Women's Champions League draw with Paris Saint-Germain, but a lack of clinical finishing cost her team all three points, too.
Schröder, 19, was signed this summer as a major part of Madrid's latest rebuild, in a transfer labeled by her former club and her agent as a world-record deal. Her task: to help Madrid go deeper in the Champions League than they've managed so far, after falling for two years in a row at the quarterfinal stage, both times to the eventual champions, Arsenal and Barcelona.
Schröder wasn't the only new face. There were five summer signings in Madrid's starting XI against PSG: Schröder, Andreia Jacinto, Elisa Senss, Arianna Caruso and Janou Levels. But Schröder, one of the world's most exciting young players, is the arrival who has the fans talking.
At the Alfredo Di Stéfano stadium on Tuesday, she showed why. At times, Schröder looked unplayable, an unstoppable force. When she had the ball, PSG, try as they might, couldn't get near it.
One moment in the 51st minute summed it up: Schröder on the near sideline in front of the PSG bench, with little room to maneuver, but somehow dancing effortlessly past two PSG challenges before being fouled. Her opponents had no choice. Schröder was simply too strong, and too quick.
That portrait came long after she'd put Madrid ahead with just two minutes on the clock. It was a straightforward goal, after PSG gave the ball away. Caruso crossed for Schröder's first-time, close-range finish, to make it 1-0.
At that stage, it looked like an equally straightforward night for Real Madrid, after the perfect start. But Madrid then dropped off, offering nothing in an all-around sluggish first half, before the home team -- led by Schröder -- eventually exploded into life in the second.
In three propulsive minutes, the Swedish teenager had three chances to finish off the game and secure Madrid's dream start. First, played in on goal, her pace and strength allowing her to hold off the defender's challenge, she shot just wide with just the goalkeeper to beat. Then she hit the post, and shot wide again when given the opportunity to make up for it, set up by Linda Caicedo.
By the end of the game, Schröder had had seven shots, for a personal expected-goals total of 1.62. It was more than twice as many shots as any other player on the pitch. For Madrid, Caicedo had two shots; for PSG, two players, Ajibade and Echegini, had three each.
But none of them came close to Schröder's dominance. What was missing was that second goal, and when it didn't come, PSG made Madrid regret it.
A 71st-minute penalty, when Madrid defender Maëlle Lakrar pulled back substitute Lea Morissaint, was dispatched by Sakina Karchaoui into the bottom corner, just out of reach of goalkeeper Merle Frohms.
It led to another late rally from Schröder, as if piqued by PSG's equalizer, with two more half-chances in two minutes: a looping header saved, and a hopeful shot deflected over the bar.
Schröder's impact at Madrid has been immediate. She didn't just open the scoring tonight; she did so in both of Madrid's qualifying round games against Ajax, too, as they went through 4-1 on aggregate.
At times last season, it felt like Caicedo was Madrid's lone superstar, aided by Caroline Weir in midfield. Now, Caicedo -- dropping a little deeper than last year -- and Schröder will be the creative and offensive heartbeat of Madrid's new team.
Madrid's European home record at the Di Stéfano is good; they had won nine of their 12 home games going into Tuesday's match. This should have been another.
By the end, the game's statistics looked evenly matched in many ways: Madrid had 50.5% possession, and 12 shots to PSG's 13. But the key metric was "big chances created." There, the gap between the teams was gigantic. PSG had one. Madrid had five. All five of them fell to Schröder, and she was able to take only one of them.
If Madrid are to make good on their stated ambition of improvement in this competition -- "The objective is to improve on our performance from last year. ... Once we reach the knockout stage, we want to have the capacity to keep going," coach Pau Quesada said pre-match -- they will need performances from Schröder like this, with some added end product.