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Established 1961 15 Thursday, February 18, 2021 Sports Mbappe hat-trick stuns Barca to put PSG in sight of quarter-finals PSG ‘too strong’ even without Neymar, Di Maria BARCELONA: Kylian Mbappe ripped Barcelona go to work. If I was a person who was very happy apart on Tuesday by scoring a stunning hat-trick in when we win and then with a result like today said a 4-1 rout to put Paris Saint-Germain on the brink I have no desire to continue, that would be crazy. I of the Champions League quarter-finals. Mbappe know where we are, we have to change, we are not underlined his status as the rising superstar of at the end of this road, we are halfway through.” world football with a ruthless display of finishing at Even without the injured Neymar and Angel Di Camp Nou that will go down as one this competi- Maria, PSG were too strong, a breathless, enter- tion’s most devastating individual performances. taining first half giving way to a French obliteration The 22-year-old eclipsed Barca’s Lionel Messi, in the second. PSG’s new boss Pochettino pumped whose opening goal from the penalty spot had a fist at the end, after a huge early boost to his been reduced to nothing more than a footnote by credibility. the final whistle. Moise Kean also headed in mid- way through the second half, carelessly left Early warning signs unmarked from a free-kick as PSG pulled away to The warning signs for the hosts came early as win this first leg, and perhaps the tie. Mbappe sped in behind their central defense after Barcelona will no doubt draw upon the spirit of 52 seconds, only for Marc-Andre ter Stegen to their astonishing ‘Remontada’ in 2017, when they clear just in time. For half an hour, the chances just won the second leg 6-1 to overturn a 4-0 deficit kept coming, at both ends. Antoine Griezmann from the opening game in Paris. It will certainly scuttled through but was denied by Keylor Navas serve as a warning for PSG but without fans, and at the near post and then Pedri made up for a mis- with Mbappe, any hopes of a repeat for Ronald control by dashing back to prevent Mauro Icardi’s Koeman’s side from look faint at best. Mbappe ran finish from trickling in. them ragged all night long. “The great footballers Messi’s pass led to Barca’s opener, a clipped write their stories in the biggest matches,” said ball over the top attracting the gaze of Layvin Mauricio Pochettino. “We had no doubts before Kurzawa as he tracked back and inadvertently the game and even less now that we are seeing a tripped Frenkie de Jong in front of him. Messi BARCELONA: Paris Saint-Germain’s Italian forward Moise Kean (right) scores a header during the top, top player.” slammed the penalty into the top corner. PSG UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between FC Barcelona and Paris Koeman had gambled on the fitness of Gerard were briefly shell-shocked and for the next five Saint-Germain FC at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on Tuesday. —AFP Pique, who had not played a game in almost three minutes, Koeman’s men chased a second, with months due to a knee ligament injury. But to rub Messi freeing Ousmane Dembele in the area but salt into the wounds, Pique trudged off late on just he failed to connect. Now the Parisians were on top, with Kurzawa Florenzi’s cross to the feet of Mbappe, who as PSG were running riot. This was a chastening Yet as they gained in confidence, they also left thwarted by Ter Stegen’s fingertips and Barca clipped in his second, and then Kean headed home, experience for Koeman’s youthful side, who had gaps and PSG hit back. Mbappe had already seen relieved to reach half-time. But Mbappe was left free at the back post by Lenglet. Navas almost shown signs of a resurgence in recent weeks in La a flicked finish blocked by Pique and moments lat- relentless, motoring past opponents every time he gifted Barcelona a lifeline when his clearance met Liga but were exposed against an opponent of an er he made sure, taming Marco Verratti’s astute got the ball and never letting up. Ter Stegen had to Griezmann’s left foot and the ball drifted just wide altogether different class. pull-back with one touch before feathering anoth- save a deflected shot from Kean before PSG took of his own post. Instead, Mbappe landed the Koeman was even asked if he wanted to contin- er expertly around Clement Lenglet in the six-yard charge with two goals in five minutes. knock-out blow, teed up on the counter-attack and ue as coach but was defiant. “I accept a defeat and box and unleashing past Ter Stegen. Pique could only hack away Alessandro curling beautifully in the far corner. —AFP hold back, saying Barcelona had seen Europe’s media in PSG “a mirror that reflects their image” of a team that now “terrorizes, hails ‘hurricane’ subdues and destroys them”. “Mbappe went through the Camp Koeman faces Nou and devastated it like a hurri- Mbappe cane, with a historic display, one that will remain etched in memories forev- scrutiny after PSG PARIS: Europe’s media lavished er,” wrote the Marca daily, also from praise on PSG’s “hurricane” superstar Madrid. Missing other top stars halt Barca revival Kylian Mbappe after a stunning Neymar and Angel Di Maria, PSG Champions League hat-trick blew were “led by an unstoppable Kylian MADRID: Ronald Koeman said Barcelona were away Lionel Messi’s Barcelona at the and a colossal Veratti,” it said, calling not ready yet to win the biggest trophies but Paris Nou Camp on Tuesday. The 22-year- Barcelona “light years away from the Saint-Germain showed them on Tuesday how far old’s goals in the round of 16 first-leg great dominators of the continent, they have to go. Kylian Mbappe ran riot at Camp tie made him the first-ever player to once again humiliated in the Nou, his hat-trick signing off one of the great indi- score a hat-trick against Barcelona in Champions League.” vidual performances of the Champions League era the knockout stages of the elite com- “Mbappe destroys Barca in the and elevating his status to arguably the most dan- petition. Nou Camp,” read the headline in gerous player in the world. French daily L’Equipe called the Barcelona daily Mundo Deportivo. BARCELONA: Barcelona’s Spanish defender Gerard Pique (left) challenges The 22-year-old certainly outshone Lionel striker “atomic” and the team a “for- “Barca remain very, very far from the Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe during the UEFA Messi, even if snap comparisons are perhaps unfair midable collective force” which level required for the Champions Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between FC on the Argentinian, given the mismatch in the stopped the genius of Messi, who is League,” it read. The other Barcelona Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain FC at the Camp Nou stadium in teams each had behind them. This was not a con- Barcelona on Tuesday. —AFP considered one of the greatest foot- sports daily, Sport, said Barca were test between Mbappe and Messi nor a failure on ballers of all time. It called PSG’s stars “pulverised by PSG” and Mbappe Messi’s part that his Barcelona side were overrun, “Galacticos” on its front page and “has proven to be an uncontrollable for so long the planet’s greatest player final European adventure with outclassed and ultimately obliterated, a 4-1 defeat said “it will be necessary to consider giant”. putting PSG within sight of the quarter-finals. stopping football” if the Parisians do not only of his day but of all time, was Barcelona “it might well be remem- completely upstaged by Kylian bered as the season in which the Instead, it was a reality check for Koeman’s not qualify for the quarter-finals after ‘Changing of the guard’ Barca, a brutal assessment of where they are in securing a 4-1 first-leg lead. Mbappe,” it wrote. It said the “electric crown was ripped from his head”. It British tabloid The Sun said the Frenchman” of just 22 years “now said Mbappe produced “one of the their recovery and a measuring of the distance still match pointed to a “changing of the looks ready to claim Messi’s crown as great European hat-tricks of recent to be covered before they can rejoin Europe’s elite. ‘Historic display’ guard at the head of world football” “I know where we are,” said Koeman. “We have to Spain’s Madridista press, while the king of world football” after his years” while Messi faded from the as speculation mounts that Messi will hat-trick. game “like a light bulb losing power”. change but we are not at the end of this road, we hailing the young Frenchman, was part ways with his longtime club at are halfway through.” more critical of the Barcelona per- The Daily Telegraph echoed that The PSG star delivered “nothing short the end of the season. “Lionel Messi, sentiment, saying that if it was Messi’s of a masterclass,” it concluded. —AFP The problem for Koeman was not the result, formance. Madrid daily AS did not which many had expected before Neymar’s injury and a string of encouraging displays in La Liga raised false hope.

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