Kylian Mbappe netted a stunning hat-trick as Paris St-Germain thrashed Barcelona 4-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Nou Camp.
Mbappe becomes the first player to score a hat-trick against Barcelona in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Also, he is only the third player to score a UEFA Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona, after Faustino Asprilla for Newcastle and Andriy Shevchenko for Dynamo Kyiv (both in 1997).
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Lionel Messi who got Barcelona’s only goal, has now scored in the Champions League for the 17th consecutive year (2005-2021), equaling Raúl González’s record (1995-2011).
PSG went behind in the 27th minute after a penalty was awarded to Barcelona which Messi converted.
In the 32nd minute PSG equalised thanks to Mbappe who danced past Clement Lenglet and smashed in his effort to make it 1-1.
Mbappe then put PSG 2-1 ahead after stroking the ball home from 10 yards to turn the game around.
On-loan Everton striker Moise Kean continued his resurgence by heading in unchallenged at the far post to make it 3-1on 70 minutes.
And with five minutes left, Barca looking to pull a goal back, were caught on the counter-attack and Mbappe curled in the goal of the night with his third and PSG’s fourth.
And in Germany, Liverpool ended their winless run with a 2-0 win against RB Leipzig thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
Both second legs encounters will be played on 10 March.
By James Agberebi
1 Comment
Fantastic player with great personality. Our players especially our strikers have a lot to learn from Mbappe. First n foremost, his self belief, then club stability, also hardly into this social media thing, not one carried away by association with other big stars in the likes of Messi, Ronaldo etc, an evidence of champion mentality, an aggressive approach to games, very frightening to opposing teams, not a 6 yard goal demon only but one that shoots to score from anywhere in and outside the 18 yards. Same attitude I have observed with Rashford. Wasn’t too happy seeing Osimene doing a photo with Ronaldo after a match. He underestimated the fact that he is the face of Napoli now and should be lifting that flag high into every football battle just like Mbappe, Rashford, Ronaldo etc doing with PSG, MAN UTD, JUVE respectively