LONDON: Kylian Mbappe outplayed Lionel Messi as Paris St Germain put Barcelona up against the ropes in the Champions League again.

And with Mbappe in that kind of form, it’s hard to see Barca staging another epic comeback this time.

After Messi put Barca ahead from the penalty spot, Mbappe scored a stunning hat-trick on Tuesday to give PSG a 4-1 win in the first leg of their round-of-16 matchup as he underlined his status as the rising superstar of world football with a ruthless display of finishing at Camp Nou that will go down as one this competition’s most devastating individual performances.

It was the team’s first meeting since Barca erased a 4-0 deficit by winning the second leg 6-1 at the same stage of the competition four years ago. But Ronald Koeman’s team were thoroughly outplayed at home, even with PSG missing Brazil star Neymar, and now have to attempt a comeback in Paris instead.

“We wanted to come here and win and we did that in style,” said the 22-year-old Mbappe. “Tonight was magnificent, but we haven’t won anything yet.”

The second leg will be on March 10 in Paris.

Liverpool rediscovered lost form and seized the initiative against RB Leipzig by cruising to a 2-0 win in a chilly Budapest in the other round-of-16 first leg on Tuesday.

Clinical early second-half strikes from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, both courtesy of dreadful defensive errors, proved decisive and leave the German side facing a formidable task in the return leg at Anfield on March 10.

Juergen Klopp has written off his team’s chances of winning back-to-back Premier League titles after they lost three successive domestic matches but they are alive in Europe after leaving the Germans stunned at the Puskas Arena where the game had been relocated due to Covid-19 restrictions in Germany.

“A lot of people were waiting for us to slip again,” Klopp said. “And tonight the boys didn’t, and I’m really happy for them.”

Messi had blasted Barca ahead with a penalty in the first half but Mbappe pulled the French champions level five minutes later with a classy piece of control and finishing to complete a flowing team move also involving Marco Verratti and Layvin Kurzawa.

Mbappe, who had not scored in the Champions League knockouts for two years before Tuesday, smashed PSG into the lead in the 65th minute while Moise Kean took advantage of some woeful Barca marking to head in a third goal for the visitors in the 70th.

The insatiable Mbappe looked hungry for more though and, after being denied his third goal by Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, he completed his treble in the 85th minute by curling the ball past the German into the top corner to become the first player to score an away hat-trick at the Camp Nou in the Champions League since Andriy Shevchenko for Dynamo Kyiv in a 4-0 win in 1997.

His dominance was epitomised by the image of Barca captain Gerard Pique making his return from a long-term injury layoff pulling at Mbappe’s shirt in an unsuccessful attempt at slowing down the France star as he rushed forward in attack.

“There’s no doubt that Kylian is one of the best players in the world, despite his young age,” said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was in charge of his first Champions League game with the French club, having led Tottenham Hotspur to the final two years ago. “He’s already done extraordinary things. But we have to stay humble.”

Barca coach Ronald Koeman had no complaints about the heavy defeat and was pessimistic about the prospects of another turnaround.

“The result reflect how superior PSG were, they were much more effective than us,” said the Dutchman. “I could tell you lies but the fact is that at 4-1 down from the home leg, there are very few chances of going through.”

Liverpool’s players will take any help they can get as the stuttering English champions look to snap out of an alarming slump in form. With two defensive blunders, Julian Nagelsmann’s Leipzig obliged.

Salah easily intercepted a back pass by Leipzig’s Marcel Sabitzer to put the Reds ahead in the 53rd minute and on course for their first win in any competition since late January.

Only five minutes later, a long ball forward was misjudged by Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele, allowing Mane to run clean through and dispatch a similarly sharp effort beyond goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.

The Germans, who came into the match on a four-game winning run in all competitions, were largely toothless in attack following the goals until Tyler Adam’s miss in stoppage time.

“We made two huge mistakes which would be punished at any level,” Nagelsmann told DAZN. “Mistakes happen, we didn’t play badly and we have to live with the result, we have to score twice just to take the game [return leg] to extra time, but we will try to do our best.”

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2021