Kylian Mbappe scored a sublime hat-trick as Paris St-Germain stunned Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Nou Camp.
It was Barca that took the lead against last year’s runners-up with Lionel Messi dispatching a 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 mesmerised fellow Frenchman 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 former Monaco forward became only the third player, after Faustino Asprilla and Andrei Shevchenko, to score a Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona.
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.
Elsewhere, Liverpool put their domestic woes behind them with a first-leg victory over RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane struck in the space of five minutes near the start of the second half in an away leg played in Budapest’s Puskas Arena because of Covid-19 restrictions.
The win comes on the heels of three straight defeats in the Premier League for the Reds – results that have led Klopp to concede defeat in their defence of the English top-flight title.
But Tuesday’s display was far more like the dominant side of last season, with their greater experience and quality ultimately telling against an error-prone German side.
“A lot of people probably expected us to slip again because of the situation, and the boys didn’t and I’m really happy about that,” Klopp told BT Sport.
“It was the game we wanted, the game we needed. Leipzig can be a real monster – they overrun teams, they are really physical and tonight we controlled them in an exceptional way.
“For two years we’ve been really good and this year we have some problems. It’s normal that the talks start – I have no problem with that. But the boys showed what they can do.”
Having managed the game well after going 2-0 up, Klopp’s side will defend their advantage at Anfield on 10 March, when they will be firm favourites to go one round further than they managed last season.
