Kylian Mbappe and a Lionel Messi in vintage form both scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain crushed Israel's Maccabi Haifa 7-2 on Tuesday to secure a place in the last 16 of this season's Champions League with one group game to spare.
Paris Saint-Germain's Argentine forward Lionel Messi fights for the ball with Maccabi Haifa's Nigerien midfielder Ali Mohamed during the UEFA Champions League Group H second leg football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Maccabi Haifa FC at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on October 25, 2022.
The win means PSG have qualified from Group H along with Benfica, although it will go down to next week’s final matchday to decide who advances in first place and therefore benefits from a theoretically kinder draw in the next round. The upcoming World Cup in Qatar is surely a factor in the outstanding early-season form of Messi and Neymar in particular, and along with Mbappe they turned on the style to leave Maccabi regularly looking dazed and confused in defence.