Kylian Mbappe’s early season woes have been forgiven after the Real Madrid megastar sent Manchester City packing in the glamour Champions League tie on Thursday (AEDT).
The France striker had initially struggled to fit into Madrid’s system after joining the European champions on a seismic transfer from Paris Saint-Germain.
But Mbappe has burst back into top form since accepting personal blame for the issues and the 26-year-old torched City with a brilliant hat-trick.
Watch every match of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, streaming ad free, live and on demand on Stan Sport
The 3-1 second leg win meant Madrid cruised through to the round of 16 on the back of their 3-2 victory in the first leg in Manchester last week.
“Everything is going perfectly to plan right now and this is one of the best atmospheres I’ve heard from Madrid fans in quite some time,” Spanish football expert Semra Hunter told Stan Sport from the famed Bernabeu Stadium.
“They’ve blown the roof off of the place. They’re so incredibly vocal tonight. I mean, I honestly forgot that City fans were even here.
READ MORE: Raducanu thanks fans for support after incident with ‘fixated’ man
READ MORE: Superstar recruits’ value laid bare by NRL top 50 votes
READ MORE: ‘Disastrous’ Dragons scenario looms after twin decisions
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1892314188720026073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“They’re so quiet, you can’t hear anything from them whatsoever… the feeling here is impotence. It’s just total defeat.”
City have won the last four Premier League titles but sit fourth on the ladder this season behind runaway leaders Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
“City look like a parody of themselves,” Hunter said.
“This is not a team that is recognisable whatsoever. There’s no penetration, the passing is sloppy. There’s no attacking intent, defensively they’re a mess.
“I mean, it’s just going completely wrong. They look like a team that is checked out. They’re already planning this summer holiday and they’re ready to come back in August. Like they just want to throw in the towel on the season.
“It’s really disappointing because they haven’t really brought any fight whatsoever… they’re just done.”
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1892326569995104310?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Shortly after Mbappe gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, City central defender John Stones had to be substituted because of an apparent knee injury.
Stones went down to the ground not long after Mbappe scored his first goal, having to be substituted in the eighth minute.
He walked off the field on his own and was replaced by Nathan Ake.
City had already started the match without gun striker Erling Haaland, who couldn’t fully recover from a knee injury he suffered in the Premier League.
“Was close but not enough,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
“He trained a little bit yesterday but we spoke this morning and he said he doesn’t feel good.”
Haaland had scored both goals for City in the first leg.
Guardiola looked agitated at times while trying to convey instructions to his players.
On other occasions, he looked resigned and desolate, sometimes with his hands in his pockets or with his arms crossed.
Guardiola turned around in apparent disgust after seeing Mbappe score the opening goal.
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1892333553494724706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
He went back to his bench for a few moments after Mbappe added the second goal in the 33rd minute, and again after Mbappe completed his hat trick in the 61st.
When goalkeeper Ederson resorted to a long kick while under pressure in the first half, Guardiola twice turned to him with his arms spread wide, as if asking “Why?”
Guardiola had not failed to reach the last 16 in his previous eight seasons with City, his three with Bayern Munich and his four with Barcelona.
City had reached that stage every time since 2012-13.
Guardiola, who led City to its first Champions League title in 2023, has been saying his team is “miles away” from where it should be, though it had showed spurts of the dominant squad that he led to a series of titles in recent years, including in the 4-0 rout of Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday (AEDT).
Guardiola has been without world player of the year Rodri for nearly the entire season because of a knee injury.
Rodri’s absence helped explain the team’s inability to dominate possession as it previously did in recent years, and the defensive woes have also proved costly this season.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund were barely stretched in a 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon, whose Champions League campaign imploded after coach Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United in November.
Dortmund won 3-0 on aggregate.
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1892317081086865591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Sporting was second in the 36 team standings under Amorim but has since failed to win any of six Champions League games under two different coaches.
Dortmund also fired a coach midseason and newly hired Niko Kovac now has two wins on the European stage to offset two straight losses in the German league.
The beaten finalist last season, Dortmund will next face either Lille or Aston Villa after the round of 16 pairings are made on Saturday at UEFA headquarters in Switzerland.
It was an easy passage despite Serhou Guirassy having a 59th minute penalty saved by Sporting goalkeeper Rui Silva.
Still, Sporting’s prospects to be in the Champions League next season look better than Dortmund’s.
Portugal’s champion advances direct to the next league phase and Sporting currently is top, two points clear of Benfica.
https://twitter.com/StanSportFC/status/1892311342167531832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Dortmund is 11th in the Bundesliga and could need to win this Champions League title to earn a place in the next edition.
The round of 16 is in a new, tennis-like seeded bracket for the knockout stage in the expanded competition format.
As the 10th place team in the final league standings, Dortmund must be drawn against either the No.7 or 8 seed, Lille or Aston Villa.
Madrid’s next opponent will be Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen.
PSG smashed French rival Brest 7-0, to run up a 10-0 aggregate score, and will play either Liverpool or Barcelona in the round of 16.
The top eight in the standings – Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico, Leverkusen, Lille and Villa – skipped the playoffs round and are seeded in the round of 16 draw.
They host second leg games on March 12-13 (AEDT).
The unseeded teams will host the first legs on March 5-6 (AEDT).