Mbappé nets quick hat trick in his 4-goal game as Real Madrid beats Olympiakos in Champions League
Piraeus (Greece) (AP:) Real Madrid star Kylian Mbappé scored four goals in a Champions League match for the first time in his career Wednesday, including the second-fastest hat trick in the competition's history.
Mbappé netted three times in just under seven minutes in Real Madrid's 4-3 win at Olympiakos.
“I'm very happy to have scored the goals, it's always a pleasure for me,” Mbappé said. “My teammates always set me up with good balls. I'm lucky to play for this team that has so much quality.”
Mbappé scored the hat trick in the 22nd, 24th and 29th minutes — after Chiquinho had put Olympiakos ahead in the eighth. The France international added his fourth goal in the 60th after Mehdi Taremi had scored for the hosts in the 52nd. Ayoub El Kaabi scored Olympiakos' third goal in the 81st.
Mohamed Salah's hat trick for Liverpool at Rangers in 2022 had broken the record for the quickest ever scored in the Champions League, according to UEFA. The Egypt forward needed six minutes, 12 seconds to score his goals after entering the match seven minutes before his opening strike.
It was Mbappé's fifth hat trick in the Champions League — and second this season. He had scored three times against Kairat in the second round of the league phase. Two of his hat tricks came with Paris Saint-Germain.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have eight hat tricks each in the Champions League, while Robert Lewandowski has six.
Mbappé now leads the Champions League in scoring this season with nine goals, three more than Galatasaray's Victor Osimhen. It's already Mbappé's best Champions League tally in a season. He has 22 goals in 18 matches with Madrid this campaign.
“His goals are crucial, it's a natural talent that he has, but that's not all. His personality, teamwork, unity... it's all among the intangibles that he brings," Madrid coach Xabi Alonso said of Mbappé.
Mbappé's goals helped Madrid end a three-game winless streak across all competition, and moved the Spanish powerhouse to fifth place in the league-phase standings of the Champions League.
“It was important to win again,” Mbappé said. “Three matches without a victory is a lot for us. We had to win to make sure we stay in the top eight, which is the goal for us now.”
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Next round of Iran-US negotiations expected soon: Pak's Defence Minister
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Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday said that the next round of Iran-US negotiations was expected soon.
Asif made these remarks on Monday, a day after the Islamabad talks failed to clinch a deal.
The 21-hour talks between the US and Iran on Saturday were the first of their kind since 1979 due to the involvement of top-level officials from both sides. The two sides, however, failed to secure a lasting peace deal to end hostilities following their talks in Pakistan over the weekend.
Speaking to the media outside Parliament House, Asif said there had been a sense of satisfaction after the talks that there were no negative developments so far.
“Only positive progress has been observed,” he said, indicating that the ongoing diplomatic efforts were moving in a constructive direction.
The next round of Iran-US negotiations was expected soon, he added.
The Express Tribune reported that responding to a question about whether Pakistan would play a decisive role in shaping the region’s future, Asif said that ultimate decisions rest with Allah.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the US delegation at the negotiations in Islamabad, said the Iranian side did not accept Washington's terms for ending the war even as the US presented its "final and best offer".
Hours after the talks collapsed, US President Donald Trump said on social media that the negotiations with Iran failed as "Iran is unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions."
Pakistan led the diplomatic push to bring the two sides to the table, which became possible after an appeal by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier this week, leading to a pause in the fighting.
The conflict began after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, paralysing global energy markets and disrupting trade.
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