Kylian Mbappe scored a stunning hat-trick as Paris St-Germain ripped Barcelona apart in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Nou Camp.

The night did not start well for last year's runners-up when they fell behind to Lionel Messi's 27th-minute penalty.

Messi, regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, was then upstaged on his own turf by France World Cup winner Mbappe as PSG ruthlessly exposed the hosts.

Mbappe danced past Clement Lenglet and smashed in the equaliser before stroking home from 10 yards to turn the game around.

On-loan Everton striker Moise Kean continued his resurgence by heading in unchallenged at the far post to put the Ligue 1 champions in control of the tie.

With Barca looking to pull a goal back, they were caught on the counter-attack and Mbappe curled in the goal of the night with his third.

The second leg takes place on 20 March in Paris, by which time PSG hope to have Neymar back from a thigh injury to face his former side.

Champions League meetings between European heavyweights can often be tense, nervy encounters but this was a thrilling end-to-end clash which will live long in the memory as Mbappe took home the match ball.

The 22-year-old fell agonisingly short last season when they were beaten in the final by Bayern Munich, and the Ligue 1 champions will take some stopping again under Mauricio Pochettino.

Sacked by Tottenham in November 2019, just five months after reaching the final of this competition, Pochettino looks to be moulding a side that will be considered strong contenders led by the brilliant Mbappe.

He had netted just one goal in nine knockout games for PSG before this game, but reversed that statistic in cold-blooded fashion.

The former Monaco forward became only the third player, after Faustino Asprilla and Andrei Shevchenko, to score a Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona.

He took his first majestically, trapping Marco Verratti's delightful flick before ghosting past compatriot Lenglet and firing an unstoppable finish past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

The second was a poacher's finish from 10 yards after the Barca goalkeeper parried the ball back into the danger area but he saved his best until last, curling in a first-time finish to stun the home side.

They should have had more but for Ter Stegen, who made superb saves to deny Layvin Kurzawa and Kean twice, but the Italian striker did find the net with a header on 70 minutes.

Though in command, PSG will know the tie is not over having been on the wrong end of a Barcelona comeback when the sides met at this stage in 2016-17, Luis Enrique's men turning around a 4-0 deficit to win the return leg 6-1 with three late goals.

Dembele's miss proves pivotal
Riddled with debt and uncertainty surrounding the future of star man Messi, as well as presidential elections coming up next month, Barcelona were well beaten by their more sprightly and effervescent opponents.

Messi gave them the perfect start by converting a penalty after Frenkie de Jong was tripped in the box but it was all downhill thereafter.

They will look to a bad miss from Ousmane Dembele at 1-0, striking a weak effort straight at Keylor Navas from 10 yards out, as the turning point in the game.

Had that gone in it may well have been a tighter scoreline, and with Antoine Griezmann also missing from close range and shooting wide from the edge of the box, Ronald Koeman's men were heavily punished at the other end.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56034248

Lalasticlala Mynd44

A big European team takes a commanding first leg lead against Barca in the Champions League, only to capitulate and surrender the match in the second leg...where have I seen this happen before? Oh that's right, it's same PSG.
Let the mentions begin
#NonBarcaFan

the boy is good and young...barca aint serious atall

DesignAndBuild:
A big European team takes a commanding first leg lead against Barca in the Champions League, only to capitulate and surrender the match in the second leg...where have I seen this happen before? Oh that's right, it's same PSG.
Let the mentions begin
#NonBarcaFan

I like yr faith bro...points to remember...
1..neyma spearheaded dt come back followed by messi bt now its just a tired messi n a weaker squad..
2..dt game was at home in spain bt this one is happening far away in france n PSG are much better than this barca..
3..most importantly there is VAR unlike then dt the reff made so many mistakes bt It doesn't take anything away from dt fantastic night of football..
finally i hate to admit it dt its messi last dance in barca shirt playing the UCL, and also its better barca return home dis early dan raising our hopes only to get a bigger embarrassment in next stage bcoz this barca aint serious atall...