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PSG's Kylian Mbappe scores a hat-trick after starting on the bench in the French champions' 5-0 drubbing of Bruges on October 22. (Reuters Photo)
Reuters
After being left out of the starting line-up in the Champions League on Wednesday, Kylian Mbappe said he wanted to prove Paris St Germain would find it hard to do without him and showed as much by coming off the bench to bag a hat trick in a 5-0 away demolition of Club Brugge.
The 20-year-old came on early in the second half to deliver a virtuoso performance as the French champions moved to the cusp of qualification for the next stage, keeping their 100% record in Group A.
Although PSG were leading at half-time after Mauro Icardi’s early goal, they were finding it hard to assert themselves until Mbappe came on in the 52nd minute with a point to prove.
“It's true that I wanted to start, I thought I was going to start. But the coach had made his choice and you have to accept that,” he told reporters afterwards.
Mbappe has been battling with a hamstring injury and has had little game time this season and coach Thomas Tuchel warned before hand he would not play for the entire 90 minutes of the match in Belgium.
“I wanted to show that it's hard to do without me. I want to fight to keep my place and help the team,” Mbappe added.
“I want to play every game, resume the pace and score goals. I want to go back to being 100%.”.
His hat trick came in 21 minutes as Brugge were blown away.
PSG meet Brugge again in their next Champions League game, hosting them on Nov. 6.
Sizzling Sterling bags hat-trick as Man City thump Atalanta
Raheem Sterling scored an 11-minute hat-trick and had a hand in all five goals as Manchester City came from behind to thump Italian side Atalanta 5-1 in their Champions League Group C encounter on Tuesday.
Forward Sergio Aguero also scored two in the first half at the City of Manchester Stadium, but England winger Sterling was the star of the show as the home side made it three wins from three to open up a five-point lead at the midway point of the pool.
Atalanta have now lost all three of their group matches in their debut season in the Champions League, but started brightly and had the lead via a Ruslan Malinovsky penalty.
City were ruthless in their response though and drove forward. They finished the game with 10 men after teenager Phil Foden received a second yellow card on 83 minutes.
First win for Real Madrid this season
A goal from German midfielder Toni Kroos gave Real Madrid their first win of this season’s Champions League with a 1-0 victory at Galatasaray on Tuesday.
Eden Hazard cut the ball back to Kroos in the 18th minute, whose side-footed effort found its way into the roof of the net via a deflection. The win means Madrid climb up to second in Group A, but behind leaders Paris St Germain by five points.
It was an end-to-end encounter with both teams able to create many chances. Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had to deny the home side twice in the first half.
The Turkish champions are bottom of the group with one point from three games, while Madrid have four.
The two sides meet again in Spain on Nov. 6.
Tottenham get shot of confidence
After a demoralising and increasingly puzzling start to the season, Tottenham Hotspur finally clicked into gear with a 5-0 hammering of Red Star Belgrade which they hope will restore confidence ahead of a Sunday’s daunting trip to Liverpool.
Two goals apiece from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min and one for Erik Lamela earned Tottenham a first win in this season’s Champions League and put them second in Group B. It was only their fourth win in 13 games in all competitions this season — a run which included a 7-2 home hammering by Bayern Munich in the previous round of Champions League matches, followed by a 3-0 defeat at Brighton and Hove Albion.
One big win against a Red Star side who were outclassed will not erase the doubts, but it was a timely boost ahead of Sunday’s trip to Anfield to face a rampant Liverpool side they lost to in the Champions League final in Madrid in June.
Lewandowski goals help Bayern 3-2 past Olympiakos
German champions Bayern Munich needed two goals from their top scorer Robert Lewandowski to sneak past hosts Olympiakos 3-2 on Tuesday and remain top of their Champions League Group B.
The Greeks scored on the break when Kostas Tsimikas’s cross found Youssef El Arabi at the far post and the Moroccan beat keeper Manuel Neuer.
Bayern, struggling for form since their 7-2 win at Tottenham Hotspur earlier this month, recovered to level with Lewandowski in the 34th minute.
He then put them ahead, stabbing in from close range against the run of play in the 62nd for his 18th goal in 12 games in all competitions.
Corentin Tolisso added a third with a curled shot in the 75th before the Greeks cut the deficit with Guilherme’s deflected effort four minutes later.
The win lifted Bayern to nine point from three games. Tottenham crushed Red Star Belgrade 5-0 to move up to second place on four, one ahead of the Serbs. Olympiakos are bottom with one point.
