1 year ago
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AP:
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ scored a hat-trick, Erling Haaland stayed on the bench injured, and Real Madrid dumped Manchester City out of the Champions League yesterday.
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 play-off.
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 rivals 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 play-offs 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.
In the early game yesterday, Borussia Dortmund started with a 3-0 lead at home to Sporting Lisbon and were 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 play-off 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, however, were classy and decisive.
A first-time lob over City goalkeeper Ederson – who perhaps advanced far too soon – was followed by a low shot after leaving defender Joško Gvardiol on the turf.
‘I want to mark an era’
The third was a powerful left-footer from the edge of the penalty area when he had lured six Man City players toward encircling him.
“I have always said I didn’t come here simply to complete a dream,” said Mbappé, a boyhood Madrid fan who never won a Champions League at Monaco and PSG. “I want to play well, I want to mark an era.”
Coach Pep Guardiola’s injury-hit side – with Ballon d’Or winner Rodri out since September and Kevin De Bruyne now rarely starting – have looked like a shadow of the heavyweight rivals that met Madrid in each of the past three seasons, when each time the winner went on to lift the trophy.
PSG have not lost anywhere since a Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich three months ago, and the play-off against Brest proved a total mismatch.
Brest had impressed in their first European season but went out with a whimper at Parc des Princes, after a 3-0 loss in the home leg.
Wingers Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in the first half. Midfielder Vitinha, Desiré Doué, left back Nuno Mendes, striker Ramos, and Senny Mayulu netted after the break. PSG also beat Brest 5-2 in a French league game this month.
With Ruben Amorim as coach, Sporting were unbeaten in four Champions League games and stood second in the 36-team standings. The team he left behind went winless in six Champions League games under two different coaches.
Dortmund also fired a coach mid-season and newly hired Niko Kovač now has two wins on the European stage to offset two straight losses in the German league.
Still, Sporting’s prospects to be in the Champions League next season look better than Dortmund’s.
Portugal’s champions advance direct to the next league phase and Sporting currently are top, two points clear of Benfica. Dortmund are 11th in the Bundesliga and could need to win this Champions League title to earn a place in the next edition.
Real Madrid, PSG, Dortmund, and PSV join Bayern Munich, Benfica, Club Brugge, and Feyenoord, who all advanced Tuesday, as play-off round winners who will be unseeded teams in Friday’s draw. They will host the first-leg games on March 4-5.
The top eight in the 36-team standings three weeks ago — Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, Aston Villa — skipped the play-offs round and are seeded in the round-of-16 draw. They host second legs on March 11-12.
The round of 16 is in a new, tennis-like seeded bracket for the knockout stage in the expanded competition format.
Madrid, as the 11th-place team in the standings and number-11 seed, already knew its next opponent would be Atletico or Leverkusen, who, respectively, placed fifth and sixth.
Top-seeded Liverpool will play number-15 PSG or number-16 Benfica.
English (US) ·