Messi scores another hat-trick as Firmino stuns PSG
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.