MANE, MANE, MANE!
HAT-TRICK IN KOP EURO ROMP
Sadio Mane struck a brilliant hat-trick as Liverpool all but secured their place in the Champions League last eight with a 5-0 demolition of Porto.
Mohamed Salah added a cool finish from close range with Roberto Firmino the other Liverpool scorer, and manager Jurgen Klopp said: ‘ We scored fantastic goals and defended well.’ Meanwhile in Spain, Real Madrid beat PSG 3-1.
Cristiano ronaldo put real Madrid in control of their glamour tie against Paris saint-Germain last night with a pop-up penalty and a bobbling rebound off his left knee.
Despite spending another fortune on players in the summer, PSG continue to be overwhelmed in the biggest games. For the first 20 minutes they were poking sticks at the big beast in the Bernabeu. they recovered to take the lead through adrien rabiot — but ronaldo soon took over.
When real won a penalty just before the break, ronaldo put his standing foot down with such force that the ball lifted slightly off the spot before he thumped it past goalkeeper alphonse areola.
He scored his second from substitute Marco asensio’s cross, and asensio set-up the third, too, for the inspired Marcelo.
ronaldo certainly won his private duel with neymar, who was a third brilliance and two-thirds petulance. ronaldo is still the king of real Madrid — Gareth Bale did not even start the game — and on this showing the 33-year-old can stay king of the competition he has won four times.
Zinedine Zidane dropping Bale to the bench was a slap in the face for the Welshman. ‘isco played a big part for us,’ Zidane said after the game of the player he had picked in Bale’s place.
this was not like leaving Bale out of the Champions League final last May, when the player understood the decision because he was short of fitness. there was no sign of him warming up with the other substitutes before kick-off and it seems there is a rift with Zidane that will put every big club on alert.
Madrid flew into tackles early on and, when one caught neymar, he went to ground theatrically, staying down long enough to rile a boisterous Bernabeu. the former Barcelona forward spent the opening quarter protesting to referee Gianluca rocchi about real’s rough treatment of him, but neymar was booked himself for a foul on home defender nacho.
PSG seemed to be sinking in those early exchanges and neymar’s response was to change his boots on the touchline. He had slipped in the area and the bright orange numbers were tossed aside. in the new footwear he glided past three real defenders in the area, but failed to spot the unmarked Edinson Cavani.
Madrid remained on top but fell behind on 33 minutes. Kylian Mbappe raced down the right and crossed towards Cavani and neymar. the latter tried to flick the ball back and, with some inadvertent help from nacho’s clearance, the ball reached midfielder rabiot, who finished past Keylor navas.
Madrid were stunned but there was help at hand. PSG’s inexperienced midfielder Giovani Lo Celso had struggled throughout the first half and, when he put a hand in toni Kroos’s right shoulder, the German went to ground. Penalty.
ronaldo found the corner, scoring his 100th Champions League goal in a real shirt almost on the half-volley as the ball bounced up to meet his right boot.
right after the restart, neymar risked collecting a second yellow card with more complaints to the match official. and ramos risked giving away a penalty when he blocked rabiot’s shot with an arm.
Bale replaced Karim Benzema on 67 minutes, but it was another substitute, asensio, who would help real win the game.
asensio crossed from the left and, as the ball bobbled in the six-yard box, ronaldo got the last touch off his knee to send it over the line. asensio then crossed for Marcelo, who scored the goal his performance deserved.
‘not for nothing has this club won 12 European Cups,’ said Zidane after the game. ramos
added: ‘ We found our range in front of goal that in other games has been missing.’
Poor PSG. They arrived in Madrid just as the champions rediscovered their best form. ‘We know this is not over,’ said Zidane. ‘We take what happened last year as a warning of that.’
Valentine’s Day last year saw PSG beat Barcelona 4-0. The tie looked over. Then Barca won the return leg 6-1. Now PSG fear they are out. They need to reverse the roles 12 months on, but with Ronaldo back as the competition’s top scorer, don’t count on it.
REAL MADRID (4-4-2): Navas 6; Nacho 6, Varane 7, Ramos 6, MARCELO 9; Modric 7, Casemiro 6 (Lucas 79min), Isco 7 (Asensio 79), Kroos 7; Benzema 7 (Bale 68, 6), Ronaldo 7. Subs not used: Casilla, Hernandez, Hakimi, Kovacic. Scorers: Ronaldo pen 45, 83, Marcelo 86. Booked: Isco, Nacho. Manager: Zinedine Zidane 7.5. PSG (4-3-3): Areola 7; Dani Alves 6, Marquinhos 6, Kimpembe 6, Berchiche 7; Verratti 7, Lo Celso 5 (Draxler 84) Rabiot 7; Mbappe 8, Cavani 7 (Meunier 66, 6), Neymar 7. Subs not used: Trapp, Thiago Silva, Di Maria, Diarra, Pastore. Scorer: Rabiot 33. Booked: Neymar, Lo Celso, Rabiot, Meunier. Manager: Unai Emery 6. Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy) 7. Attendance: 78,158.