Seven magic minutes from Mbappe, while Liverpool suffer another Anfield horror show

On a wild Champions League night where teenagers starred, Kylian Mbappé also struck four, including the second-fastest Champions League hat-trick.

Arsenal took Bayern Munich’s top spot in the pool standings with a 3-1 win, titleholders Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 5-3 win over Tottenham, while Liverpool slumped to another loss at Anfield, 4-1 against PSV Eindhoven.

The 26-year-old Mbappé scored three times for Real Madrid between the 22nd and 29th minutes, and again in the 60th, of a 4-3 win at Olympiakos.

At 17 – the same age Mbappé was when he launched his Champions League career for Monaco – Lennart Karl (Bayern Munich) and Viktor Dadason (FC Copenhagen) scored on Wednesday, and so did 18-year-old Geovany Quenda (Sporting).

Mbappé’s three goals in six minutes and 42 seconds was fast, but not quite the fastest in Champions League history.

The record holder remains Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, who scored three times in six minutes and 12 seconds for Liverpool against Rangers in October 2022.

Seventeen-year-old Lennart Karl celebrates his goal.Credit: Getty Images

While Mbappé stunned football once again, there was more pain for the English Premier League champions. Liverpool’s miserable season hit another low when they slumped to a 4-1 defeat to PSV Eindhoven.

Couhaib Driouech scored a double, while Ivan Perisic – from the penalty spot – and Guus Til also scored to leave PSV 15th in the Champions League table with eight points. Liverpool, who have lost nine of their past 12 games in all competitions, dropped to 13th.

The Reds got off to the worst possible start when a bizarre handball from captain Virgil van Dijk led to a PSV penalty in the sixth minute, with Perisic sending goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili the wrong way.

Kylian Mbappe unleashes a shot for Real Madrid.Credit: AP

The goal seemed to spark Liverpool to life, and Dominik Szoboszlai tapped in a leveller in the 16th minute after keeper Matej Kovar saved Cody Gakpo’s shot but palmed the ball into the path of the Hungarian.

Til restored PSV’s lead in the 56th minute with a perfectly timed run onto Mauro Junior’s through ball, arriving just ahead of Milos Kerkez to poke it into the net past Mamardashvili.

Liverpool had been hoping the European match could provide relief from their miserable domestic campaign as they had won three of their first four Champions League games to put themselves in position for a top-eight finish and a berth in the knockout rounds.

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They had 26 attempts on goal compared to nine for the visitors, including a Van Dijk header that hit the underside of the crossbar. Cody Gakpo also missed a sitter from the back post, while Hugo Ekitike was denied by a fine save.

But the Reds looked nothing like the team that roared to the Premier League title last season and countless disgruntled fans had left before the final whistle sounded on another loss. Liverpool have already lost more games at Anfield this season than they did during the entire 2024-2025 campaign.

It was the third successive game the Reds had lost by three goals amid their worst run since a similarly dreadful stretch during the 1953-54 season.

AP, Reuters

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