PSG hat-trick hero Kurzawa toasts moment in limelight
PARIS: Layvin Kurzawa enjoyed stealing the headlines from Neymar and co as he walked away with the match ball after scoring a second-half hat-trick in Paris SaintGermain’s 5- 0 Champions League demolition of Anderlecht.
Kurzawa, a left- back, scored three times in the space of 26 minutes after the break at the Parc des Princes as PSG ran away with the game following first-half strikes from Marco Verratti and Neymar.
A fourth big victory in as many games in the competition, coupled with Bayern Munich’s 2-1 win away to Celtic, allowed the bigspending French giants to secure qualification from Group B with two games still to play.
“This hat-trick gives me a huge amount of pleasure. It’s the first hat-trick of my professional career. We’re all enjoying ourselves on the pitch and we’re giving our supporters lots of joy as well,” said Kurzawa after the game.
The 2 5 - yea r - old F rench international full-back had scored just once this season coming into the match and had never found the net in the Champions League proper prior to Tuesday’s match.
And the former Monaco player is just the second PSG player to score a hat- trick in the competition, following Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who netted four times in a game against Anderlecht in 2013.
“Everyone can be happy tonight – we’ve won 5- 0 and played really well in front of our fans. We need to continue like this,” Kurzawa told beIN Sports.
“The hat-trick is thanks to my teammates. I am delighted and the goals will give me confidence.”
Apart from the rarity of a defender scoring three times in a game, PSG fans packed into the Parc des Princes could also enjoy a rare goal from Verratti and a less rare effort from Neymar.
The world’s most expensive player scored in stunning fashion just before half-time and now has 11 goals in 12 appearances for the French club since arriving from Barcelona. — AFP