Who is the best player in the world? Kylian Mbappe demonstrated once again why he is by scoring a brilliant goal in stoppage time as Paris St-Germain beat 13-time Champions League winners Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
The France striker, who is expected to move to Real in the summer, received the ball on the left from a clever backheel by Neymar, and got between two defenders inside the box before slotting through Thibaut Courtois’ legs to send the Parc des Princes wild.
In the other tie, Manchester City effectively sealed their progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a stunning first-leg 5-0 demolition of Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.
With no away goal rule this season, Real Madrid had no incentive to attack and were content to let PSG dominate possession. But as we have seen before, PSG struggles to break down teams in a low block and they could only manage one shot on target in the first half, when Mbappe saw a shot denied by Courtois’ legs.
But the introduction of Neymar, making his first appearance since November after recovering from injury, proved decisive. He caused Real a number of problems with his dangerous crosses and clever runs before providing the crucial pass for Mbappe to work his magic with seconds remaining.
The win will give PSG hope that they can head to Madrid on Wednesday, 9 March and get the result they need to keep alive their hopes of winning a first Champions League title.
Meanwhile, City once again put on a majestic display to give themselves a surely unassailable advantage in a tie against what had been a buoyant and reinvigorated Portuguese champions.
Bernardo Silva was brilliant, silencing the boos that greeted every touch from him and City’s three other former Benfica players with his side’s second and fourth goals, the first a glorious half-volley following a corner.
In-form Riyad Mahrez was on the scoresheet again with a close-range finish awarded via VAR after a lengthy delay to assess if Kevin de Bruyne had strayed offside in the build-up, as originally ruled.
Phil Foden also added to his growing collection of cool, calm finishes in a relentless first half that shattered Sporting.
There was no let-up after the break, with Silva seeing a hat-trick headed goal ruled out for offside before he set up Raheem Sterling to curl in a lovely fifth.
The result equals the biggest winning margin in an away match in the Champions League knockout phase and gives City their joint biggest European away victory, level with the 5-0 win at Steaua Bucharest in the play-off round of this competition in 2016-17.
