FOOTBALL – FEDERICO Valverde struck the first hat-trick of his career as Real Madrid swept aside Manchester City 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie last night, leaving the Premier League side with a daunting task ahead.
Pep Guardiola’s City side began brightly at the Santiago Bernabeu, but were caught out by Madrid’s pace on the break. From a swift move following a goal kick, Thibaut Courtois released Valverde down the right, who rounded Gianluigi Donnarumma to open the scoring in the 20th minute.
Seven minutes later Vinicius Jr made a great run from the left and fed Valverde, who beat the offside trap and drilled home.
Madrid struck again in the 42nd minute after another rapid counter. Vinicius surged forward and Brahim Diaz clipped a pass into Valverde’s path, the Uruguayan completing his treble with a fine volley after flicking the ball over a helpless Marc Guehi.
City pressed after halftime but it was the hosts who wasted a great chance to deal another blow, when Donnarumma denied Vinicius from the penalty spot after the goalkeeper brought down the Brazilian inside the box.
Meanwhile, holders Paris St Germain carved out a clear advantage against Chelsea as substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia inspired them to an exhilarating 5-2 first-leg victory at the Parc des Princes.
Luis Enrique’s side twice went ahead through Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele but were pegged back each time by Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez, only for Vitinha and Kvaratskhelia, with a double, to add three late goals for the hosts.
While the French champions showed defensive frailties eight months after being dismantled by Chelsea in the Club World Cup final, they produced flashes of the incisive, high-octane football that carried them to their first European Cup triumph last season.
The second leg is at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
Another stellar display on their artificial home turf at the Aspmyra Stadium gave Norway’s Bodo/Glmit a 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon.
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.
Earlier, Arsenal’s eight-game winning run in the Champions League came to an end as they needed an 89th-minute penalty from substitute Kai Havertz to rescue a 1-1 draw at Bayer Leverkusen.
Former Leverkusen player Havertz converted the late spot kick to cancel out Robert Andrich’s 46th-minute header for the hosts, marking the first time this season that quadruple-chasing Arsenal had fallen behind in Europe’s elite competition.
The Premier League leaders, who had won all eight of their previous matches to top the table after the league phase, were toothless in attack despite hitting the woodwork in a bright start, and could not find a way back into the game until their late penalty, awarded for a foul on Noni Madueke.
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