Manchester City midfielder Raheem and PSG's young striker Kylian light up Champions League night with hat-tricks
Manchester City's Raheem Sterling (right) scores the English club's fifth goal to complete his hat-trick in their Champions League Group 'C' encounter against Italian side Atalanta in Manchester on Tuesday night
Paris: Raheem Sterling and Kylian Mbappe both scored second-half hat-tricks in UEFA Champions League action on Tuesday night as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain recorded big victories. Sterling's three goals came 11 minutes apart in the second half as Pep Guardiola's City thumped Atalanta 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium to maintain their perfect record in Group C.
The Italians had earlier taken the lead from Ruslan Malinovskyi's 28th-minute penalty, but they were soon overrun and remain without a point in their debut Champions League campaign. Sergio Aguero equalised from a Sterling assist and the Argentine scored a penalty to put City ahead before the break. Sterling then took over, although City finished with 10 men as Phil Foden was sent off late on. "I should have had four.
Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe (in white) scores his team's fifth goal in a Champions league Group ‘A’ match against Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges on Tuesday night.
Riyad Mahrez put me through and I was looking to put one on a plate for him, but I went through and should have finished it," Sterling admitted to BT Sport. City will seal a place in the last 16 if they win away to Atalanta next, as nearest rivals Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb played out a 2-2 draw in Ukraine earlier. Compared to Sterling, Mbappe took a sluggish 22 minutes to score his three goals in PSG's 5-0 romp away to former European Cup runners-up Club Brugge in Belgium in Group A.
Raheem Sterling and Kylian Mbappe
Mauro Icardi scored twice for the French champions, who were without the injured Neymar but had Angel Di Maria in exceptional form — the Argentine set up four goals. According to sports statisticians Opta, the last player to come off the bench and score a hat-trick in the Champions League was Spaniard Joseba Llorente for Villarreal in 2008. "I wanted to start and I thought I was going to start, but the coach made his choice and I had to accept it. I also wanted to show that it's difficult to get by without me," Mbappe told French broadcaster RMC Sport.
Paris Saint-Germain have a maximum nine points, are yet to concede a goal in Europe this season and will be through to the last 16 with a win at home to Club Brugge next month.
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