Maurico Pochettino doesn’t need Lionel Messi on this evidence, he has Kylian Mbappe, 11 years younger and right now the greater footballing force.
The 22-year-old scored a hat-trick as Paris Saint Germain beat Barcelona 4-1 all but knocking them out of the competition.
For Pochettino it was a famous win on his PSG Champions League debut, and against Ronald Koeman once a Premier League rival – one man had a sledgehammer striker, the other a defence made of glass.
The preamble threw up two striking images: one was Gerard Pique whistling along to the Uefa hymn as if he always knew that after injuring right knee ligaments three months ago that he would be back in time for the Champions League last-16. The runaround he was to be given by Mbappe was scant reward for such commitment.
The other image was Koeman’s pre-match handshake with Pochettino – two former Southampton managers now responsible for getting the best out of Messi and Mbappe, Pochettino was to fare far better.
It wasn’t long before Mbappe was causing all sorts of problems for Barcelona as he raced through the heart of their defence inside the first minute. Marc Andre ter Stegen came out and sliced his clearance but a sliced clearance was better than none at all, if he’d stayed in his area it would have been 1-0.
Moise Kean went past Pique’s central defensive partner Clement Lenglet inside the area to force PSG’s first corner as the away side continued their confident start.
Barcelona had offered little in return in the first 10 minutes save a run down the left from Jordi Alba on to a good pass from Antoine Griezmann. It was the Frenchman who had Barcelona’s first chance. Keylor Navas saved his shot after he’d run on to Pedri’s pass. Pedri then saved Barcelona at the other end in PSG’s next attack. He gave the ball way but when Mbappe broke to tee-up Mauro Icardi Pedri scrambled back to clear.
Against the run of play Barcelona went ahead on 27 minutes when Messi beat Keylor Navas from the penalty spot after Layvin Kurzawa had clipped Frenkie de Jong’s heels in the area.
Referee Bjorn Kuipers pointed the spot but replays cast doubts and video-assisted referee Pol van Boekel had to confirm the decision. Messi slammed the kick into the roof of the net. It was his 28th goal in last-16 Champions League matches and his eighth against former Madrid keeper Navas, the Neymar tweet criticizing the decision arrived almost immediately. He needn’t have bothered the decision would not affect the game.
Mbappe responded inside five minutes on the pitch. Marco Verratti played the ball to him on the edge of the six-yard box. He sidestepped the pedestrian Lenglet and scored past Ter Stegen.
Barcelona were wobbly now. Mbappe forced another Ter Stegen save and Kean was also denied by the German keeper.
Barcelona could have signed Mbappe when Neymar left them in 2017. They choose Ousmane Dembele instead. There was no comparison in the first half. The former had terrorized Barcelona’s defence, Dembele had missed a sitter teed-up by Messi after Barcelona’s opening goal and failed to support right-back Sergio Dest who had struggled throughout.
Mbappe started the second half as he had finished the first with a shot just wide of Ter Stegen’s goal. He then got away from Pique, despite Pique pulling his shirt, and released Icardi who set up Kean whose shot was saved by Ter Stegen. Then he wriggled away from three players, Messi included, this was turning into an exhibition.
Messi responded by winning a free-kick on the edge of the area but his curling shot hit the top of the wall and went over Navas’ bar.
He was growing increasingly frustrated with Dembele who chose a tame shot on goal over a cross into the area.
Mbappe got the second on 65 minutes. Alessandro Florenzi crossed from the right, for once Ter Stegen misjudged the situation, and Pique’s half clearance dropped to Mbappe who scored.
Barcelona’s defensive frailties were now being horribly exposed and Kean was unmarked when he headed in the third from a free-kick with 20 minutes left.
Mbappe still wanted his hat-trick and he duly completed it in 84 minutes. He was all alone when Draxler played him and he beat Ter Stegen to make it 4-1. Mbappe left with the match ball and Barcelona with a sense of no longer belonging at European football’s top table.
