Messi and Mbappe Slaughter Club; Man City lose match and Walker

Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 8:34 PM• Dominic Mostert

Club Brugge has been eliminated from the Champions League. To finish third, the team of coach Philippe Clement needed a good result to visit Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig had to drop points against Manchester City, but both conditions did not materialize. PSG beat Club 4-1, thanks to double hits by Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, while Leipzig beat Manchester City 2-1. As a result, Leipzig wins the battle for third place and qualification for the knockout phase of the Europa League. Manchester City are group winners and PSG finish second.

Paris Saint Germain – Club Brugge 4-1
PSG made it very clear that there was nothing for Club to do in Paris. Thanks to two goals from Kylian Mbappe, the home side already led 2-0 in seven minutes. Only once before has a player produced a faster double in the Champions League: Rodrygo needed six minutes in November 2019 to score twice for Real Madrid against Galatasaray. Mbappe’s first goal came from a low, diagonal shot into the right corner. He got the ball in front of his feet from within the penalty area, because keeper Simon Mignolet did not process a pass from Nuno Mendes properly.

The second goal was very nice: Ángel Di María launched Mbappé with a marker, after which the striker took the ball straight out of the air: 2-0. Mbappe, 22 years and 352 days old, became the youngest player ever to score 30 Champions League goals, breaking the record of Lionel Messi (23 years and 131 days old). The two attackers teamed up to make it 3-0: Mbappe sent a tight wide pass to Messi, who cut in and found room just outside the penalty area for a shot into the left corner. At halftime there was little to argue with, because PSG had complete control. Only in the second half did Club come out of its shell and create serious danger.

Preparatory work by Noa Lang gave Mats Rits a good chance, but the midfielder shot over Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal. Then Lang tried himself, but Donnarumma saved the day. Halfway through the second half Club got what it was looking for. The rushing Lang kept several guards busy, showing Marco Verratti his heels and enabling Rits on his right to score. Fifteen minutes before the end, however, PSG received a penalty after a foul by Ignace Van der Brempt on Messi, and the Argentinian himself was accurate from eleven meters. Ruud Vormer came in for Club, while Bas Dost stayed on the bench. Georginio Wijnaldum played ninety minutes for PSG.

RB Leipzig – Manchester City 2-1
The English had already secured a group win and could therefore start the game with some new names. Zack Steffen, among others, was therefore allowed to start on goal at City; Nathan Aké could also count on a starting spot. Those two had to go to work for the first time after fifteen minutes of play. Aké managed to block a dangerous heel from André Silva, but the ball ended up with Konrad Laimer via the foot of the Dutchman, who saw Steffen save on his vicious attempt. Eight minutes later it was hit. Laimer sent Dominik Szoboszlai away and the Hungarian dribbled around Steffen with playful ease to tap in: 1-0. It was the only thing the American could be blamed for: just under ten minutes before half-time, he prevented an almost certain 2-0 with a great reflex.

It was far too little what the visitors showed, Josep Guardiola also thought. Immediately after the break, the coach brought Raheem Sterling to turn the tide. However, that did not help much and twenty minutes before the end Silva even doubled the margin. The Portuguese striker received the ball from Emil Forsberg on a counterattack and shot hard and low into the bottom right corner: 2-0. Not much later, Riyad Mahrez brought the tension back by heading in an excellent cross from former PSV player Oleksandr Zinchenko while falling. However, Kyle Walker duped his team and himself by taking a stupid red card moments later for kicking Silva. As a result, the back misses the first game of the knockout phase. There was therefore no further change on the scoreboard. Brian Brobbey started on the bench at Leipzig and came in after 79 minutes.