BEVERLY HILLS, February 16, (THEWILL) – On a night of UEFA Champions League football when one of the best performers on the big stage Lionel Messi reached 20 goals in all competitions for a 13th successive season and gave testimony to the remarkable longevity of his shine in the firmament of football constellation, it is astounding that not only will Messi not be the main attraction of the day but he will be considered to have faded into obscurity by the brilliance and mesmerising game of the man of the match: Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe played an inspired game of football on the hallowed Barcelona grounds of the Camp Nou that he went home with the match ball for a deserving hattrick that was capped with a sublime curler from a devastating counterattack football that Barca goalkeeper, Marc-Andre ter Stergen, could do absolutely nothing about.
The man, who used to have to take home the hattrick ball, Barca’s captain and talisman, Lionel Messi sauntered around the Nou Camp pitch engaged in his standard quality contributions on the ball that the greatest player the game has ever seen is synonymous with.
Yet, juxtaposed against what Mbappe pulled off, Messi’s low-octane involvement whenever he was out of possession will be embarrassing as Mbappe practically had Barcelona’s defence in the palm of his hand with his clever movement and runs in behind giving them a headache the entire time the game lasted. At some point, it appeared the Barca defense could not wait for the final whistle.
The 22-year-old did to the backline of La Blaugrana what they were used to doing to other teams with a younger Messi leading the charge. It was that sort of intensity that Messi can no longer muster for a sustained period these days, especially not with age beginning to catch up on him but also not with the same calibre of teammates around him today, as different from the good old days.
The truth remains that Messi will still produce moments of outrageous quality that will still be spellbinding until he retires, but the new kid on the block is Mbappe, and nothing demonstrated this more clearly than this memorable night in Barcelona.
By a distance, the French forward was the best player on the pitch on either side. He always looked dangerous every time he got on the ball. He was clearly operating at a higher frequency than those around him and each of his finishes was a work of art with the third deserving of everything he contributed to the solid away first-leg last 16 fixture.
Poor Sergino Dest, the American right back for Barca. The nightmares he will certainly have about Mbappe will be wild. The American was so comprehensively outplayed and out of his depth that manager Ronald Koeman had little choice but to put him out of his misery and sub him off with plenty of time left in the match.
The away win means PSG is in complete control of the pairing ahead of the second leg in Paris on Wednesday March 10. Indeed, the most optimistic of Barca fans will point out that they have come back from worse against the very same PSG, but that was four years ago.
A lot has changed since then where Barca turned a 4-nil first leg deficit in the second leg in front of a raucous Camp Nou crowd, with an inspiring starting XI lineup that included the likes of midfield generalissimo Andres Iniesta, playmaker Ivan Rakitic, clinical striker Luis Suarez and Man-of-the-Match forward Neymar.
The Barca squad today, in simple terms, is not comparable to that lot anymore. Granted that they can still put up a solid performance on a good day, the inconsistency with which they manage that can only mean that the best they can hope for in the return leg is damage limitation rather than a repeat of that four year old miracle.
In the end, Mbappe may have single handedly knocked Barca out of another European campaign where they will once more leave empty-handed with the very real possibility of not having Messi in the team again in their next shot at European glory. The remarkable display from the Frenchman means he is now the first away player to score a Champions League hat-trick at Camp Nou since Andriy Shevchenko in 1997.
There is no better way to show that you are the new force to reckon with.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
