Kylian Mbappe equalled Filippo Inzaghi’s record for the most away hat-tricks in the UEFA Champions League (UCL), after he scored his third European treble on his travels in a dominant 5-0 win over Kairat Almaty.
Reeling from Saturday’s 5-2 capitulation to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid made the long trek to Kazakhstan with the sole objective of producing a positive response to their derby day drubbing.
The 15-time European champions were nearly caught cold when Kairat carved out a promising chance for Dastan Satpayev straight from kick-off, but the young striker was unable to generate any power on his header straight at Thibaut Courtois.
After surviving that early scare, Real Madrid soon offered their own threat through Vinicius Junior, who raced in behind the Kairat backline, only to prod the ball wide of the far post.
Moments later, Mbappe was going through his pre-penalty routine after goalkeeper Sherhan Kalmurza clattered into Franco Mastantuono in the box.
The 18-year-old was unable to make amends for his error, diving the wrong way to Mbappe’s clinical spot-kick, ensuring Xabi Alonso’s charges went into the break with a slender advantage.
Neither side changed personnel at the break, and any neutrals hoping for a shock turnaround were to be left disappointed, as Mbappe required just seven second-half minutes to add to his and Real Madrid’s tally, deftly lifting the ball over the onrushing Kalmurza after latching onto Courtois’ long ball forward.
The Frenchman then looked set to quickly add a third when he combined brilliantly with Vinicius, but to everyone’s surprise in Almaty, he slid his right-foot shot wide of Kalmurza’s goal.
Following that near miss, Kairat briefly thought they had been offered a way back into the contest when the referee pointed to the spot. However, a subsequent VAR review ruled that Valeri Gromyko had slipped and initiated the contact with Dani Ceballos.
But any lingering doubt over the result was quickly quashed by the prolific Mbappe, who only required a low backlift to drill home his hat-trick sealing goal.
With Kairat in tatters by this point, there was still plenty of time left for Eduardo Camavinga to nod in his first UCL goal and for Brahim Diaz to drive in a fifth off the post, wrapping up back-to-back European wins for Los Blancos, while leaving the hosts without a point in the league phase.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Kylian Mbappe (Real Madrid)