Kylian Mbappe was all shades of wonder on Tuesday night as PSG cruised past Barcelona in a Champions League round of sixteen match.
The young lad was the name on commentators’ lips as he scored (his) first, second and third goals to ensure the La Liga giants were eliminated in their own ground the Camp Nou.
Although PSG’s Neymar was absent in the match, the home team which had legendary Lionel Messi, other talented players could not stand the French club.
Coach Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona suffered a crushing 4-1 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night in the Champions League last 16.
With the season coming to an end, an unimpressive Barcelona had hoped to clinch the Champions League, but the Tuesday night drama means the La Liga giants might not win any title this season – after the chances of wining copa del Rey has slimmed down and with Athletic Madrid on top of the La Liga table – it would require a ‘miracle’ to overturn the defeat when they eventually visit the French side.
Barcelona took the lead through Messi, scoring his fourth goal in the Champions League this season, all of them from the penalty spot, after Layvin Kurzawa brought down Frenkie de Jong.
Messi’s penalty was emphatically slotted home (no wonder Manchester City are interested in him!) and 2021 is now the 17th consecutive calendar year that he has scored in the Champions League, equalling Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez’s record, set between 1995-2011.
Ousmane Dembele should have doubled Barcelona’s lead but sent a tame shot at Keylor Navas, which was reminiscent of his infamous miss against Liverpool in the 2019 semi-final first leg that should have sent his team 4-0 up. Instead, the score stayed at three and we all know what happened at Anfield…
Barcelona were made to pay, then and now, with Mbappe quickly firing PSG level. He had a moment of luck when his slack touch to control bounced up to him instead of away from him, there was nothing fortunate about what happened next.
With lightning speed reactions he cut left and then lashed past Ter Stegen, into the roof of the net.
Mbappe’s lesser compatriot, Griezmann, fired wide at the other end on a strong Barcelona counter as they showed they were still in the fight.
Mbappe’s influence only grew in the second half, as he showed why he will be football’s true next superstar, trying to take the reins from Messi himself in this match.
His second was a poacher’s finish and after the unmarked Moise Kean headed in the third, Mbappe produced a brilliant curled effort to kill Barcelona and the tie on a rapid counter.
Barcelona rushed Gerard Pique back from a near three-month injury for this game but he may as well have stayed at home as Mbappe toyed with Barcelona, who were always recoiling, flailing and eventually crumbling.
Ifesinachi Nnabugwu reporting, Obinwannem News
