PARIS: If the World Cup had given the impression that Lionel Messi was slipping down football’s pecking order, the Argentine star made it clear he remains at the top of his game.

Messi scored a record eighth Champions League hat-trick on Tuesday in Barcelona’s 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven as Europe’s top club competition got underway.

Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe, the teenage star widely viewed as the man capable of dethroning Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a near future as the best player in the world, endured a frustrating night in a 3-2 loss with Paris St Germain at Liverpool.

The World Cup winner scored a second-half equaliser but then gave the ball away in stoppage time, a costly mistake that paved the way for Roberto Firmino’s winner in a thrilling encounter.

There were dramatic late goals around Europe, including for Inter Milan against Tottenham Hotspur, and winning starts for several of the leading contenders, with Atletico Madrid battling back to beat Monaco.

But the heavyweight encounter of the evening was at Anfield, and the Group ‘C’ match between last season’s beaten finalists and the ambitious PSG lived up to expectations.

A year after making it to the final, Liverpool showed they might be capable of challenging for the title once again by finding a way to tame Neymar and Mbappe for much of the game.

Liverpool were rewarded for their excellent start as they found themselves two goals up after 36 minutes, Daniel Sturridge getting the opener before James Milner netted a penalty.

But the French champions pulled one back before the interval through Thomas Meunier — the goal allowed to stand despite Edinson Cavani being offside in the build-up.

The two most expensive players in the world then combined for the 83rd-minute equaliser that looked set to earn PSG a draw, Neymar assisting Mbappe to score his 11th Champions League goal since he made his debut in the tournament during the 2016-17 season.

Mbappe’s mistake in stoppage time proved costly for his club, though.

He was dispossessed by James Milner in the second minute of stoppage time, giving Liverpool a chance to mount a final attack. Firmino collected a pass from Virgil van Dijk and fired a low shot into the far corner to seal the Reds’ victory.

“I can’t say enough good things about Bobby. To come off the bench after his injury at the weekend is incredible really,” said Klopp of Firmino, who was poked in the eye by Jan Vertonghen in the weekend win at Spurs.

PSG, whose main goal this season is to win the Champions League after repeated failures, next face Red Star Belgrade, who marked their return to the big time with a 0-0 draw against Napoli.

UEFA have introduced a handful of earlier kick-offs in every Champions League midweek this season, and it was still light at the Camp Nou as Barca kicked off against PSV in Group ‘B’.

Messi once again failed in his bid to lift the World Cup trophy this summer in Russia, where he did not play at his best and Argentina lost to France in the round of 16. But Messi is a different player in the Champions League, a competition he has won four times, and in which he has scored 103 goals.

With his hat trick on Tuesday, he now leads Ronaldo 63-60 in total group-stage goals.

“We were up against Messi, the best in the world,” PSV coach Mark van Bommel said.

Messi has made clear his determination to go all the way in Europe this season and he duly scored the first goal of the 2018-19 group stage from a superb first-half free-kick.

Barca ran away with the game in the second half, with Ousmane Dembele scoring a stunner before Messi added two more to seal a 4-0 win.

“Normally if you score a hat-trick you frame it. But he makes the extraordinary routine,” said Barca coach Ernesto Valverde, whose side had Samuel Umtiti sent off late on.

SPURS WOUNDED

The Spanish champions next go to London to face Tottenham, who suffered a wounding 2-1 defeat at Inter Milan.

Having lost their last two Premier League games, Spurs were on course for a welcome win via Christian Eriksen’s second-half opener, which went in via a wicked deflection.

But Mauro Icardi’s brilliant late volley brought the hosts level, and Matias Vecino headed in a stoppage-time winner for Inter, back in Europe’s top competition for the first time since 2011-12.

“We are suffering a little bit but that’s not an excuse,” said Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.

After winning the Europa League last season, Atletico are targeting Champions League glory with the final to be played in their own stadium.

They started their campaign by beating Monaco 2-1 away in Group ‘A’, handing yet another home defeat to Leonardo Jardim’s side.

After losing all three home games in the group stage last season, the hosts grabbed an early lead against the run of the play with a goal from Champions League debutant Samuel Grandsir.

However, Atletico dominated for long spells and struck back before the interval through goals from Diego Costa and Jose Gimenez.

In the same group, Christian Pulisic celebrated his 20th birthday in style by scoring on his return from injury to give Borussia Dortmund a late 1-0 win away to Club Brugge.

“It was great to come back after injury to and to be back with the team,” said Pulisic, who made his 100th appearance for the club.

The American, who hadn’t played since Aug. 26 due to muscular problems, came on with around 20 minutes remaining and scored in the 85th when Matej Mitrovic’s attempted clearance rebounded off his shin and looped in over Brugge goalkeeper Karlo Letica.

“It was a bit lucky but I’ll take it on my birthday,” said Pulisic, who had missed two Bundesliga games for Dortmund and the US friendlies against Brazil and Mexico.

Dortmund’s bitter rivals Schalke 04 started off with a 1-1 draw against FC Porto in an eventful Group ‘D’ encounter.

Breel Embolo gave the German side a second-half lead, firing past Iker Casillas, who has now played in the Champions League in a record 20 separate seasons.

That was after Alex Telles had an early penalty saved for the visitors. But Porto, who won the Champions League in Schalke’s Gelsenkirchen stadium in 2004, equalised when Otavio converted another penalty late on.

Meanwhile, Garry Rodrigues and Eren Derdiyok netted, and Selcuk Inan scored a penalty, as Galatasaray beat Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 in Istanbul in the other Group ‘D’ game.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018