Kylian Mbappe saved the blushes of fellow superstar Lionel Messi as Paris Saint-Germain snatched a dramatic 1-0 Champions League league victory in stoppage time of their round of 16 first leg clash with Real Madrid.
The match in Paris appeared destined for a stalemate after Messi’s second half penalty was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
But the Madrid goalkeeper was unable to deny Mbappe, who used his explosive pace to blast between Presnel Kimpembe and Lucas Vazquez and prod the ball through Courtois’ legs.
Watch Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo and football’s biggest superstars in the UEFA Champions League with every match streaming ad free, live and on demand only on Stan Sport. Start your seven day free trial here!
“He’s been the standout performer tonight,” former England international Alan Smith said in commentary.
“He’s been absolutely fantastic.”
Mbappe also won the penalty that Messi was unable to convert as Courtois dived sharply low and left to keep the ball out.
READ MORE: Simmons breaks silence on NBA trade fiasco
READ MORE: What embattled Tigers coach must do to save his job
READ MORE: Djokovic prepared to skip more grand slams
Messi made a career of scoring goals against Madrid during his unrivalled career with Barcelona.
“You’ve got your headline, Messi misses against Real Madrid,” Martin Tyler said in commentary.
Smith questioned Messi’s headspace at his new club.
“You’re no longer quite so sure about Messi in those situations. Just looking at the face of Messi before the penalty – you did wonder about his confidence levels.”
But Mark Bosnich said the focus should be on Courtois, not Messi.
“People are saying it’s a poor penalty – he still struck it with some venom,” the former Manchester United goalkeeper said on Stan Sport.
Meanwhile, Manchester City was so good in a 5-0 rout over Sporting Lisbon that even opposition fans couldn’t help but applaud.
When Phil Foden sidefooted home the third of City’s four first half goals, some of the home supporters were seen clapping in recognition of one of the most dominant performances ever seen at this stage of Europe’s top club competition.
Helping inflict the humiliation were four players who once played for Sporting’s fierce Lisbon rival, Benfica.
One of them was Bernardo Silva, who scored two of the goals – his first an outrageous half volley that flew in off the underside of the crossbar.
Riyad Mahrez began the demolition in the seventh minute with a close range volley that was only given after a long video review.
Silva then scored in the 17th and 44th minutes – either side of Foden’s well worked team goal in the 32nd – as City went into halftime leading 4-0.
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1493710313824292865?s=20&t=amAOLOJxRgluznJZqRzDgw
Raheem Sterling curled in a sublime fifth in the 58th and Pep Guardiola’s team can start planning for the quarterfinals, even with the second leg still to come in three weeks.
“They are just so dominant in every capacity of the game,” former Socceroos captain Craig Foster said on Stan Sport.
“They just suffocate teams. There’s no good news here (for City’s rivals), it’s only very, very bad. That is a machine, at the peak of their form.”
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!