Arsenal beats Bayern, Mbappé hat trick lights up Champions League night

Kylian Mbappé scored four goals, including the second-fastest hat trick in Champions League history, as PSG and Arsenal recorded big wins. Teenagers Viktor Dadason and Geovany Quenda impressed, while veteran David Luiz became the second-oldest scorer in the competition

Paris: On a wild Champions League night with stellar teenage scorers, Kylian Mbappé struck four, including the second-fastest Champions League hat trick ever, to show the veterans still have it.

Arsenal took Bayern Munich’s top spot in the standings with a 3-1 win, title holder Paris Saint-Germain romped to a 5-3 win over Tottenham with Vitinha scoring a hat trick, and Liverpool slumped to another loss at Anfield, 4-1 to PSV Eindhoven.

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

At age 17 — the same as when Mbappé was launching his Champions League career at Monaco — Lennart Karl and Viktor Dadason both scored Wednesday, and so did 18-year-old Geovany Quenda.

Karl’s exquisite first-timer for Bayern leveled the game in the first half but barely bothered Arsenal in a clash of Premier League and Bundesliga leaders. It was Bayern’s first loss this season.

Only Arsenal now has five straight wins in the Champions League after Inter Milan lost 2-1 at Atletico Madrid, whose captain José María Giménez won it with a stoppage-time header — the 42nd and last goal on the nine-game slate.

In Copenhagen, Dadason set the Danish champion on its way to a three-goal lead in a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty.

In Lisbon, Quenda opened the scoring in Sporting’s 3-0 win over Club Brugge, spinning almost a full circle to hook a left-footed shot into the corner. The exciting wing-back will join Chelsea after the season.

At the other end of the age scale, 38-year-old David Luiz scored with a soaring header to help Pafos to a 2-2 draw with Monaco. He became the second-oldest scorer in the Champions League, behind only veteran defender Pepe, who was approaching his 41st birthday when he scored for Porto two seasons ago.

Atalanta won 3-0 at Eintracht Frankfurt with three goals in five minutes starting with Ademola Lookman in the 60th.

 

Mbappé’s fast hat trick

Three goals in six minutes, 42 seconds was fast by Mbappé, but not quite the fastest ever in the Champions League. That record belongs to Mohamed Salah, who scored in six minutes, 12 seconds for Liverpool against Rangers in October 2022.

Mbappé is now second fastest, with his second hat trick this season and fifth of his Champions League career. He is also top scorer this season with nine, ahead of injured Victor Osimhen who has six for Galatasaray.

 

Dadason’s big future

Viktor Dadason was already the third-youngest scorer in Champions League history last month in Copenhagen’s 4-2 loss at Borussia Dortmund. Only Ansu Fati and Lamine Yamal were younger when they scored for Barcelona.

The 6-foot-3 Dadason set Copenhagen on the way to a three-goal lead Wednesday with a header in the 26th. The Danish champion had to hang on for a 3-2 win over Kairat Almaty, which scored twice late but ended the night 35th in the standings, above only Ajax.

 

Veteran David

Luiz David Luiz returned to Europe at age 38, after four years in Brazil, to help Cyprus champion Pafos in its debut Champions League season.

The former Brazil star scored his first goal in the competition since October 2017 with a powerful header against Monaco. His previous Champions League goal came in his second spell at Chelsea, where he was key in the 2012 title-winning team.

Monaco held a 2-1 lead from the 26th, when US forward Folarin Balogun intercepted a pass by goalkeeper Neofytos Michael and scored with a low shot. Pafos leveled in the 88th when the ball struck Monaco defender Mohammed Salisu after rebounding from the crossbar for an own goal.