France forward Kylian Mbappe struck a brilliant hat-trick for Champions League holders Real Madrid in a 3-1 win over Manchester City on Wednesday, helping Los Blancos reach the last 16 with a 6-3 aggregate victory.
City, shorn of key striker Erling Haaland, suffered a painful early exit without laying a glove on the completely dominant 15-time record winners in the Spanish capital, until Nico Gonzalez tapped home in stoppage time.
City were dealt bad news before the game with Haaland, who netted twice in the first leg, named on the bench after a suffering a knock at the weekend against Newcastle.
Mbappe broke the deadlock with a lob in the fourth minute and netted a fine second after combining with his attacking partners as the English side were sliced open.
The striker, in sensational form after a slow start to life at Madrid, completed his treble in the second half with a low strike from the edge of the box to reach seven goals in the competition this season in 10 appearances.
Mbappe has scored 28 goals this season, with 18 in his last 18 games across all competitions.
City, who won the competition in 2023, were a far cry from their best as has been the case for much of their campaign.
City have now lost 13 games in their last 26 across all competitions, and face Premier League leaders Liverpool next on Sunday, with a battle to finish in the top four on their hands.
Madrid, by contrast, are still in the running for three major competitions and with Mbappe in such sensational form, believe they can win all of them.
Next up in the last 16 is a clash with either city rivals Atletico or German champions Bayer Leverkusen.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will either face Liverpool or Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League after mercilessly crushing French rivals Brest 7-0 on Wednesday to win their play-off round tie 10-0 on aggregate.
PSG were always overwhelming favourites to beat Brest and effectively killed off the tie with a 3-0 win in Brittany in the first leg last week.
There were seven different goal-scorers in the return at the Parc des Princes, with Bradley Barcola, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Vitinha, Desire Doue, Nuno Mendes, Goncalo Ramos, and Senny Mayulu netting for the home side.
PSG will find out the identity of their next opponents when the draw for the remainder of the competition is made on Friday.
Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven also battled into the last 16 of the Champions League Wednesday, after a pulsating 3-1 extra-time win over Juventus gave them a 4-3 aggregate play-off victory.
The defeat sealed a miserable play-off phase for Italian clubs after AC Milan were sent packing by Feyenoord and Atalanta lost to Club Brugge.
Credit: The Star
