AS Monaco won the first leg of their semi-final tie against Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in a pulsating match just a day after the German side was the subject of bomb blasts on their team bus which left Spanish defender Marc Bartra needing surgery.
In a drama filled encounter, Brazilian midfielder Fabinho missed a penalty in the opening stages of the game before Kylian Mbappe – who won the penalty in the first place – put his side ahead just 2 minutes later with a rather unorthodox goal.
The game ended with Monaco edging Dortmund by 3 goals to 2, which hands the French outfit the advantage going into what is likely to be an electric second leg in France.
Twitter was full of praise for Kylian Mbappe, who was brilliant once more for Monaco as they gave themselves a huge advantage ahead of the return leg.
Kylian Mbappe’s game by numbers vs. Dortmund:
100% chance conversion
88% pass accuracy
3 take-ons
2 shots
2 goalsMature beyond his years. pic.twitter.com/0wZ19XHBAn
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 12, 2017
Mbappe is unreal at his age, we were saying the same about Rashford last season so let’s see how he continues
— ? (@JustPaulPogba) April 12, 2017
Mbappe is 18 years old & scoring 2 goals in the Champions League while most 18 year olds are on Football Twiter abusing Harvey Price.
— West Ham Rage (@WestHamRage) April 12, 2017
Mbappe is so good ? pic.twitter.com/CGh2HKLXdw
— 🙂 (@ManUnitedFanII) April 12, 2017
B A L L O N D ‘ O R #Mbappé #BVBASM pic.twitter.com/u68T79TB6y
— FOOTBALLOX ⚽️ (@Footballox_) April 12, 2017
Thierry Mbappe. pic.twitter.com/ZACUG0U3gZ
— Mr Hamza. (@hamzabello) April 12, 2017
Sell the Emirates and half the squad for Mbappe. He literally is Thierry Henry.
— Alex (@afc_AIex) April 12, 2017
Kylian Mbappe in the Champions League knockout stages:
⚽⚽ vs. Man City
⚽⚽ vs. DortmundClutch. ? pic.twitter.com/KhTJfowYa5
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) April 12, 2017
He’s only 18 ?? Bloody hell this kid !! ???????? #Mbappe
— Sadikshya Bhandari (@Sadikshya_) April 12, 2017
How can an 18-year-old be so composed in front of goal on a major stage like a Champions League quarter-final? Unreal from Mbappé.
— Liam Canning (@LiamPaulCanning) April 12, 2017
How do Monaco teach such composure man? Henry, Anelka, Martial, Trezeguet now Mbappe. All ice cold in those situations ffs
— Jordan. (@ChelseaEnigma) April 12, 2017
Mbappe is an absolutely unreal talent. The composure on that finish was outstanding. ?
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) April 12, 2017
Kylian Mbappe: Scored his first of 20 goals in all competitions this season in October. That’s 20 in less than six months…
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) April 12, 2017
Mbappé is what the English media tried to convince us Marcus Rashford was
— Patrick Timmons (@PatrickTimmons1) April 12, 2017
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s “pre-assist” for Ousmane Dembele’s goal was a thing of beauty and many acknowledged it, however the striker did not escape criticism from Twitter after an otherwise indifferent performance.
That’s a pre-assist of the year. What a pass! #Aubameyang pic.twitter.com/22f4P7A0Ny
— Artur Petrosyan (@arturpetrosyan) April 12, 2017
Aubameyang meant that & for the sake of all that’s pure I’m not willing to hear otherwise.
— The Tactics Room (@TheTacticsRoom) April 12, 2017
Incredible back heel from Aubameyang!
— Dortmund USA (@dortmundusa) April 12, 2017
And Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doesn’t care about the laws of physics.
— Lewis (@LGAmbrose) April 12, 2017
Aubameyang might be a very good striker but he is certainly not worth the sums being reported.
— Ahmed Wagih (@Ahmed__Wagih) April 12, 2017
All Aubameyang knows is straight line running. Some Gabon Sissoko
— eOS 2.0.17 (@MrScripto) April 12, 2017
Aubameyang is not very present in this match ..#BVBASM
— Borussia Dortmund (@Pics_dortmund) April 12, 2017
Shinji Kagawa’s brilliant goal to make the score 2-3 also resulted in huge praise from Twitter and the tie was truly on after the Japanese player’s skillful display.
Bombs on their minds, but they’ve still managed to do this. Heroes in my book.
Şahin -> Kagawa pic.twitter.com/SMityyd6SB
— Bog (@iconicguerreiro) April 12, 2017
Shinji Kagawa’s last six games for Dortmund:
Assist
Assist
Goal
Assist
Assist
Goal— bet365 (@bet365) April 12, 2017
Kagawa destroyed that defender holy shit. #bvb
— Dortmund Fans (@DortmundFansBVB) April 12, 2017
Shinji Kagawa created 3 chances (1 assist) against Monaco, more than any other player on the pitch. ??? #UCL pic.twitter.com/NHGoCmSGFy
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) April 12, 2017
Kagawa’s goal was even better than Mbappe’s imo. Pure filth. pic.twitter.com/oRFc2g3qgm
— Abdi (@AbdiFooty) April 12, 2017
Somewhere, Sir Alex Ferguson is tutting loudly after watching Shinji Kagawa score. “What’s he doing off the wing?”
— Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven) April 12, 2017
Fabinho suspended. Falcao struggling with fitness. Mbappe feeling his calf. That Kagawa goal was massive.
— hongo (@hongo_jr) April 12, 2017
Kagawa sees Mbappe’s composure…
“Hold my beer”
— Alex Chaffer (@AlexChaffer) April 12, 2017
*awaits we were wrong to sell Kagawa tweets.
— United Religion (@Unitedology) April 12, 2017