London, Feb 20: Kylian Mbappé scored a hat trick, Erling Haaland stayed on the bench injured and Real Madrid dumped Manchester City out of the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mbappé’s stellar trio of goals in the fourth, 33rd and 61st minutes in a 3-1 win gave Madrid a 6-3 victory on aggregate over the 2023 champion in their two-leg knockout playoff.
“This has been the complete performance – attack, defense, with the ball and without the ball, we showed such high levels of quality,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “Almost the perfect night.” One superstar striker was watched by another from the sidelines. Haaland was not fit to start for an ultimately overmatched Man City because of a knee injury sustained late in a Premier League game Saturday.
Paris Saint-Germain beat French rival Brest 7-0, to run up a 10-0 aggregate score, and will play either Liverpool or Barcelona in the round of 16.
PSV Eindhoven ousted Juventus in the only one of the eight playoffs this week that went to extra time. Defender Ryan Flamingo scored in the 98th minute for a 3-1 win on the night and 4-3 on aggregate. United States international Timothy Weah scored for Juventus.
“Honestly, we slipped up,” Weah said. “I felt like they were more aggressive on the night and we lacked a bit of aggression and hunger.”
In the early game Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund started with a 3-0 lead at home to Sporting Lisbon and was barely stretched in a 0-0 draw. Sporting’s Champions League campaign imploded after coach Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United in November.
Mbappé’s first goal of the two-leg playoff in Manchester was a lucky miscue, a looping effort off his shin to level at 1-1 in what ended a 3-2 win.His three goals in Madrid were classy and decisive. (AP)
