Prodigy Mbappe scores twice, Monaco wins at Dortmund

The 18-year-old striker made a big contribution to help his team defeat their opponents 3-2 in the first leg of the quarter-finals at Signal Iduna Park.

Mbappe's goal helped Monaco win the match in which they did not play better than their opponents. Photo: Reuters.

Goals: Dembele 57', Kagawa 84' - Mbappe 19' 79', Bender (own goal) 35'.

Due to the Dortmund bus bombing on April 11, the match was postponed to April 12. The home team suffered a setback when centre-back Marc Bartra broke his arm in the explosion and was unable to play.

Dortmund players and fans showed solidarity after yesterday's incident. However, Thomas Tuchel's team started the match slowly and let their opponents take the initiative in the first half.

Monaco were awarded a penalty in the 17th minute when the referee adjudged Sokratis Papastathopoulos to have fouled Kylian Mbappe in the box. However, Fabinho kicked it out.

Just two minutes later, Mbappe put Monaco ahead. However, the French striker was offside before putting the ball into the net with his thigh and the referee made a mistake in awarding the goal to the visitors.

Dortmund had a good chance to equalise but Shinji Kagawa's shot from less than 10 metres went wide. The home side paid for that waste. Before half-time, Sven Bender headed into an own goal to extend Monaco's lead. Bender replaced Bartra at centre-back. Both of the visitors' first two goals came from crosses from the left.

Bender headed the ball into his own net under pressure from Falcao. Photo: Reuters.

With just over 10 minutes of the second half gone, Ousmane Dembele equalised for Dortmund in a move that surprised the Monaco defence. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made a spectacular backheel pass to Kagawa, who then set up Dembele.

However, while searching for an equaliser, Dortmund were hit by a counterattack from their opponents. Mbappe scored the second when he took advantage of Lukasz Piszczek's careless cross to face the goalkeeper. A few minutes earlier, Falcao missed the chance when his left-footed shot from a good position went over the bar.

Five minutes later, Kagawa reduced the score for Dortmund. The Japanese midfielder skillfully turned around in the penalty area and successfully finished with his left foot. Kagawa's goal kept the German team's hope of turning the game around in the return match on April 19.

Mbappe's goal to make it 3-1 was a classy finish. Photo: Reuters.

In the closing stages of the match, Aubameyang missed a good chance to equalize when his close-range header from Dembele's pass went wide.

With two goals in this match, Mbappe became the youngest player to score a brace in the Champions League knockout round. The 18-year-old striker only played 25 minutes in the group stage and started to emerge when scoring in both the first and second legs of the round of 16 against Man City.

With a brace in this match, Mbappe continued to prove his worth, which has led to comparisons with the famous striker Thierry Henry. The 18-year-old striker's scoring streak brought an advantage to Monaco, but Dortmund also had to blame themselves for missing many opportunities despite playing aggressively for most of the second half.

According to VNE