Mbappe eliminates Man City from the Champions League with hat-trick

Real Madrid easily beat Manchester City 3-1 with a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick on Wednesday in their Champions League playoff second leg. The win at the Santiago Bernabeu earned Madrid a 6-3 aggregate victory and a place in the last 16. The 2024 champions will face either Bayer Leverkusen or city rivals Atletico Madrid, depending on Friday’s draw, as they seek a record-extending 16th title. It was the first time in City coach Pep Guardiola’s illustrious career that one of his teams in the Champions League had failed to reach the round of 16. “It was a perfect night,” Mbappe said. “It’s only logical that Real Madrid advance to the last 16 of the Champions League. We are very strong at home and it’s great to give joy to our fans.” After a breathtaking first leg packed with goals and individual brilliance from both sides at the Etihad Stadium, the return game was thoroughly one-sided. Real did not have to work too hard to subdue their sorry rivals who failed to manage a shot on target in the first half, looking a shadow of Guardiola’s dominant force from past years. Already 3-2 down from the first game, City’s task became even harder an hour before kick-off when they announced a starting 11 without leading striker Erling Haaland, who suffered a knee injury at the weekend. Real took full control of proceedings from the off and never looked under threat with the hapless visitors lucky not to lose by a larger margin. Mbappe opened the scoring with Real’s first attack in the fourth minute, taking advantage of another massive blunder by City’s defence when captain Ruben Dias missed his header and left the French forward free to lob over the onrushing Ederson. Things went from bad to worse for the English team after defender John Stones went down two minutes later with an injury, forcing Guardiola to bring Nathan Ake off the bench and burn a substitution early. READ ALSO: Kwara United pummels Young talent FC 5-0 Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham toyed with City’s complacent defence, keeping the ball on the deck and creating several chances until Mbappe scored again in the 33rd minute with a close-range strike after a humiliating cutback that left defender Josko Gvardiol on the floor. Real came out just as strong after the break and Mbappe scored his third in the 61st minute with a left-footed strike from the edge of the box just inside Ederson’s right post. The hosts kept piling on the pressure and wasting chances, with Ederson making fine saves to deny Mbappe and Rodrygo, but towards the end they took their foot off the gas with a easy win in the bag. City did score a compensation goal at the death, Nico Gonzalez converting a rebound after Omar Marmoush’s free kick bounced off the crossbar, but it did little to tarnish a fantastic night for the Spaniards.

AFCON Qualifier: Osimhen Nets Hat-trick As Eagles Maul Sao Tome 6-0

Ballon d’Or nominee, Victor Osimhen netted a hat-trick that took his tally to 10 in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, and also ensured Nigeria finished as group winners in the race to Cote d’Ivoire. Having drubbed their opponents 10-0 in both teams’ first encounter in the Moroccan city of Agadir in June 2022, the Eagles, who had already qualified for the finals no matter the scoreline, were in no danger on the lush turf of the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo. They expectedly started on the front foot, in front of a capacity crowd of 30,000 spectators, but Semi Ajayi’s firm header off a corner kick by Kelechi Iheanacho in the second minute was punched away by goalkeeper Ronaldo Silva. Silva was by far the busiest of the two goalies on the night, and had to be alert and active four minutes later as England-based forward Taiwo Awoniyi turned and struck a fierce one inside the box. He would however, have no answer when Osimhen, with seven goals in five previous qualifying matches, rose above the defence to head in from close range off a corner kick by Ademola Lookman. Awoniyi’s header missed narrowly three minutes later, but the visiting goal-tender again had to pick the ball from his net in the 27th minute when Lookman received a pass from on-field captain Wilfred Ndidi and sashayed past two defenders before tucking it past the goalie for Nigeria’s second of the evening. Seven minutes into the second half, Awoniyi had the crowd on his feet when he chested a flick by Iheanacho and blasted past Silva from close range. Everything was on a roll and Osimhen scored his ninth goal of the qualifying campaign in the 70th minute, when he won and converted a penalty kick with Silva sent the wrong way. With 10 minutes left, the goal king did his Ballon d’Or nomination no harm with a third goal after a flowing move that had substitute Samuel Chukwueze and Awoniyi contributing. There was still time for Chukwueze to score a sixth, with five minutes left, after he was picked out by fellow substitute Victor Boniface on the left side of the visitors’ defence. Osimhen deservedly won MTN’s Most Valuable Player of the Match award and pocketed the sum of N1 million naira, while Lookman was selected the Man of the Match and picked up a cheque for N1 million from Nigerian Breweries PLC. Next up for the Super Eagles is a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Lesotho’s Crocodiles also in Uyo on 17 November.