Kylian Mbappe Dominates as PSG Stuns Manchester City at Santiago Bernabeu: Champions League Talking Points

The former manager of FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich experienced his first significant defeat before the knockout round in his 16th season. The highly anticipated tenth encounter between Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti was dominated by the impressive performance of Mbappe, who made history by scoring hat tricks at both Bernabeu (against Man City) and Camp Nou (against Barcelona) in the Champions League. Matching Lionel Messi's accomplishment in the Champions League, the No.9 from Madrid now shares the honor of being the top goal scorer (7 goals) against Guardiola. At just 26 years old, Mbappe has already netted an impressive 358 goals and provided 142 assists, reaching a total of 500 goal involvements (for club and country) in all competitions.

Carlo Ancelotti called it 'Clasico' and it did not disappoint. #RealMadrid #ManchesterCity #ManchesterCityRealMadrid #ChampionsLeague #MCIvRMA pic.twitter.com/RXsULYN1N9

Why did Haaland fail to feature?

For the partisans, the writing was on the wall when Haaland's name went missing from the starting XI of the visitors. Fresh from an impressive brace against Los Blancos at Etihad, Haaland remained a benchwarmer in City's 3-6 aggregate trounce to Madrid. So why did Haaland start on the bench? City head coach Guardiola revealed that the ex-Borussia Dortmund forward had 'discomfort' in walking in the lead-up to the away fixture. "Erling trained yesterday but he has discomfort walking and for example on stairs," the Man City head coach said. "We spoke yesterday, and this morning and he said he didn't feel good, didn't feel ready."

Credit where it's due, Jude

Reflecting on Madrid's memorable double over Man City, midfielder Jude Bellingham doffed his hat to Rodrygo. For the unversed, French legend Thierry Henry urged Bellingham to share insights about Rodrygo's pivotal role. "Please can you talk about this guy, Rodrygo? Because no one talks about him but his work rate and his skills, what he does for the team," Henry mentioned during Paramount+ of the Champions League classic. "Rodrygo is so underrated. I think, for me, he's probably the most talented and most gifted player in the squad. The things he can do with the football... We'll be messing around and he'll flick the ball up somehow and you'll be like, how did you do that?!," Bellingham responded.

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PSG join Dortmund; Juventus and Milan bow out

While midfielder Federico Valverde turned out to be a perfect right back and Raul Asencio reminded the Spanish faithful of legendary Sergio Ramos at Bernabeu, the Champions League playoff phase also produced unbelievable stories in Italy. PSV Eindhoven picked up a remarkable 3-1 win at home to eliminate former champions Juventus from the Champions League. The Old Lady is the third Serie A side after AC Milan and Atalanta to bow out of the competition in the knockout round this season. Mbappe's former side, Paris Saint-Germain, recorded a 10-0 aggregate triumph over Brest to seal their berth in the last 16 of the Champions League. Last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund entered the last 16 after a goalless draw with Sporting in their final playoff encounter.

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