Champions League last 16 first leg: Real Madrid 3 (Valverde 20, 27, 42) Manchester City 0
Federico Valverde scored a sensational first-half hat-trick as injury-hit Real Madrid overpowered Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Much had been made of the Spanish giants’ lengthy casualty list for Wednesday’s clash against their familiar rivals at the Bernabeu, with the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo among the big-name absences.
Yet it merely provided the opportunity for captain Valverde to step up and the Uruguay midfielder ripped City apart with a clinical display of finishing.
He scored three goals in the space of 22 minutes and things might have been worse for Pep Guardiola’s side had Gianluigi Donnarumma not saved a second-half penalty from Vinicius Junior.
It rounded off a dismal two days for English sides in the Spanish capital after Tottenham’s 5-2 hammering by Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
City, having gone into the tie as favourites, now face an uphill task in next week’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
The visitors actually started brightly and tried to take the game to Real.
Antoine Semenyo fired an early shot at Thibaut Courtois and the lively Jeremy Doku twice drove across the face of goal.
Nico O’Reilly also went close and Bernardo Silva volleyed wide as the visitors tried to exploit any perceived weakness in the Real side.
But the home side served warning as former City academy player Brahim Diaz forced a save from Donnarumma and it went unheeded.
The Premier League side were caught cold by a long ball from Courtois after 20 minutes which dropped over O’Reilly’s head and Valverde took it expertly in his stride.
He then glided past Donnarumma and finished brilliantly while off-balance from a tight angle.
City had barely had time to regroup before Valverde doubled his tally seven minutes later.
Valverde may have got lucky as a Vinicius pass deflected into his path but there was nothing fortunate about his touch as he set himself to drive a low left-footed shot beyond Donnarumma.
Valverde completed his brilliant treble before the break as City were again cut open on the counter, this time by Vinicius.
The ball reached Diaz, who cleverly lobbed Ruben Dias for Valverde to flick past Marc Guehi and smash home a volley.
City left the field shell-shocked and things threatened to get ugly after the restart as Diaz tested Donnarumma following a mazy run.
Semenyo did force a save from Courtois at the other end but a long ball from deep sent Vinicius racing into the area where he was brought down by Donnarumma.
The goalkeeper was booked and, much to City’s relief, guessed correctly to push away Vinicius’ resulting spot-kick to his left.
Yet the Madrid attacks kept coming with Arda Guler and Vinicius both shooting narrowly wide.
City did not give up hope and Erling Haaland might have scored but for a vital touch by Antonio Rudiger, while O’Reilly was denied by the feet of Courtois.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Paris Saint-Germain celebrate. Photograph: Anthony Bibard/FEP/Icon Sport via Getty
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of Paris Saint-Germain celebrate. Photograph: Anthony Bibard/FEP/Icon Sport via Getty
PSG 5 (Barcola 10, Dembele 40, Vitinha 74, Kvaratskhelia 86, 90+4) Chelsea 2 (Gusto 28, Fernandez 57)
Filip Jorgensen’s costly error at the Parc des Princes was the pivotal moment as Chelsea suffered a late collapse to lose 5-2 to Paris St Germain in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
The visitors had twice recovered from a goal down and looked like surviving an intriguing match with a draw when, in the 74th minute, Jorgensen’s pass was cut out easily by Bradley Barcola, substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia squared it and Vitinha chipped the stranded goalkeeper.
Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez had earlier scored equalisers in answer to goals by Barcola and Ousmane Dembele.
Then came Jorgensen’s awful misjudgement, a blow Chelsea clearly struggled psychologically to recover from. Kvaratskhelia curled in a brilliant fourth soon after then tapped in a fifth in stoppage time as the holders twisted the knife.
Chelsea were brave in coming to the home of the European champions and taking them on but their nativity was their undoing.
They were too casual about the threat posed by PSG, leaving space for Dembele and for Barcola, not giving their all in challenging for second balls and too easily pulled out of shape by rapid transitions.
These are the missing details that will almost certainly mean an exit next week for Liam Rosenior’s side, but they also exposed PSG’s own defensive vulnerabilities – Barcola in particular was horribly at fault for Gusto’s goal – and there remains a sniff of encouragement that the holders can be beaten.
There was no suggestion Chelsea had come to Paris to keep it tight and stay in the tie. They came at the European champions with a high line and plenty pushed forward as they sought to play the game in the hosts’ half.
They could have scored in the first few minutes, Reece James crossing low from the right but Joao Pedro failed to make good contact.
This though is a team prone to defensive lapses. They had already got away once with failing to deal with a ball as it bounced inside their box when PSG punished them.
Dembele was given space on the right to cross, Joao Neves was left with room to nod it down for Barcola who controlled with his chest then thundered it in off the bar.
Chelsea have been accused of wilting in adversity but here they dug in and hit back. Fernandez’s clever switch of the play found Gusto with virtually the freedom of the PSG box after Barcola switched off.
The defender took a touch and drilled it and though Matvei Safonov got a hand on it the ball bounced past him and in.
A wild 14-second spell ended with PSG retaking the lead.
Cole Palmer should have scored with a free effort hit straight at Safonov. The ball was cleared and in a flash Dembele was streaking over the halfway line. Wesley Fofana recovered and got goal side but the Ballon d’Or winner turned him with some ease before sending a low finish into the corner.
Pedro Neto had shown in the first half that he had the beating of Marquinhos for pace and he showed the PSG captain his heels again to set up the equaliser, racing into the box and pulling back for Fernandez who rifled into the top corner.
Then came Jorgensen’s dreadful misjudgement to let in Vitinha to score before Kvaratskhelia’s brace all but finished the tie.
Bodo/Glimt 3 (Fet 32, Blomberg 45+1, Hogh 71) Sporting 0
Another stellar display on their artificial home turf at the Aspmyra Stadium gave Norway’s Bodo/Glimt a 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.
The Norwegians’ Cinderella winning run in the Champions League extended to five victories in a row as Sondre Brunstad Fet converted a penalty that he won on the half-hour mark, and Ole Didrik Blomberg followed up with a superbly-placed finish from a tight angle in first-half stoppage time.
The Portuguese side had a good chance early in the game but after that the home side took over, and they could have gone three up in the 55th minute after the ball pinged around in the box before eventually going out of play, with Bodo defender Jostein Gundersen heading the resulting corner straight at the keeper.
Danish striker Kasper Hogh rounded off another fairytale effort, stealing between two defenders to deftly steer the ball into the net from close range in the 71st minute.