Barcelona star Antoine Griezzman has heaped praises on his compatriot Kylian Mbappe after the latter stole the show with a hat trick against the Spanish giants.

Griezmann told the press: “He has been criticised a lot, but that is what happens when you are someone for a little while.

“As soon as he plays less well, we criticise him. It is quite easy. But I believe that PSG have a future star, one who will be on the level of Leo and Cristiano. He had a truly great match.”

He conceded that the Catalans will have a great duty to fulfil when they travel to France to turn the tide.

“We were ready, we wanted to play a big game but they were better than us, there is nothing to say.

“Kylian was having a great night. After this, there is a return match. We’ll have to go there to win and turn the situation around. We’re not going to go there as tourists,” he was quoted by Goal.com saying.

Barcelona humiliated

French striker Kylian Mbappe stole the show with a brilliant hat trick against Spanish giants Barcelona in the round of 16 Uefa Champions League match in Camp Nou.

With Neymar ruled out with a thigh injury and Di Maria also forced to watch from the bench; PSG coach Mauricio Pochetino went with Mauro Icardi, Kylian Mbappe and youngster Moise Kean for the attack.

The game began with both sides knocking to open the scores but none was able to make intentions clear until the 27^th minute when Lionel Messi scored from the spot. Frenkie De Jong was tripped inside the box forcing the referee to point to the spot.

But before the end of half time, Mbappe fired a shot in the roof of the net from close range to level up scores.

The Frenchman returned with a second goal for himself and the team in the 65^th minute before Moise Kean added a third in the 70^th minute. Mbappe would then complete a hat trick at 85^th minute wrapping up a superb night for PSG but a harsh one for Barcelona.

Ronald Koeman chose to go with Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ousame Dembele in the attack. The trio failed to pay off as they frequently squandered clear-cut scoring chances.

Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane struck to grab a 2-0 win for Liverpool against RB Leipzig in their away tie.

Liverpool came from a humiliating defeat against Leicester City where the foxes bounced from behind to sink the Reds.