JOHANNESBURG: Liverpool star Mohamed Salah scored four goals as Egypt trounced Djibouti 6-0, and minnows Lesotho pulled off a shock 1-1 draw in Nigeria in World Cup qualifying on Thursday.
After reaching the 200-goal mark in English football last Sunday, Salah netted twice in each half of a Group A matchday one romp in Cairo. Mostafa Mohamed and Trezeguet also scored.
Djibouti are ranked 154 places below Egypt and survived for only 17 minutes before a low cross eluded two defenders and Salah fired into the net at the far post.
He slammed a penalty over goalkeeper Sulait Luyima and into the roof of the net five minutes later to give record seven-time African champions Egypt a two-goal lead by half-time.
Salah completed his hat-trick with a tap over the line at the far post on 48 minutes and netted again on 69 minutes with a close-range shot into the far corner.
The two-time African Footballer of the Year has scored 52 goals for Egypt, who are seeking a fourth World Cup appearance, with Canada, Mexico and the United States hosting the 2026 finals.
Nigeria are 113 places above Lesotho in the world rankings and were expected to make a winning start in Group C despite the absence through injury of star forward Victor Osimhen.
But Lesotho stunned the nome crowd in the southeastern city of Uyo by taking a 56th-minute lead when Motlomelo Mkhwanazi rose at the far post to nod home after a corner.
Nigeria equalized 11 minutes later when Semi Ajayi, who plays for English second-tier club West Bromwich Albion, scored with a powerful header off a corner taken by captain Kelechi Iheanacho.
Aided by a second-minute own goal in Algiers, four-time World Cup qualifiers Algeria defeated lowly ranked Somalia 3-1 in Group G.
After a low cross struck Ahmed Abdi and entered the Somali net, Baghdad Bounedjah doubled the lead before half-time.
Yusuf Ahmed halved the deficit midway through the second half and Algeria had to wait until 10 minutes from time before restoring a two-goal lead through Islam Slimani.
Kenya, back in international football after a FIFA ban for political interference prevented them playing in 2024 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying, lost 2-1 away to Gabon in Group F.
Masoud Juma put Kenya ahead just before half-time in Franceville, Denis Bouanga levelled on the hour mark and Guelor Kanga snatched an 88th-minute winner for the home side.
Salah scores four, Lesotho shock Nigeria in World Cup qualifying
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Salah scores four, Lesotho shock Nigeria in World Cup qualifying
- Salah netted twice in each half of a Group A matchday one romp in Cairo
- He completed his hat-trick with a tap over the line at the far post on 48 minutes and netted again on 69 minutes with a close-range shot into the far corner
Real Madrid run riot as Valverde treble stuns Man City
- Valverde completed a first career hat-trick before half-time with the best of his three strikes
MADRID: Federico Valverde’s superb first-half hat-trick helped Real Madrid demolish Manchester City 3-0 in a surprise Champions League last 16 first leg rout on Wednesday.
Los Blancos were missing several key players including Kylian Mbappe but Uruguayan midfielder Valverde’s stunning treble, netted inside a 22-minute spell, crushed Pep Guardiola’s team at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Vinicius Junior missed a penalty in the second half as Madrid could have built further on their significant lead ahead of the second leg in Manchester next Tuesday.
Even though Madrid are the record 15-time winners, their sketchy form offered little reason to believe they would pull off such a dominant result in what has become a modern Champions League classic.
City, who won the competition for the first and only time in 2023, even beat Madrid in the league phase and have strengthened since then.
However the Spanish giants produced their most convincing display of the season just when it mattered most to leave the Premier League visitors stunned.
“(It was) incredible, you dream of nights like this,” Valverde told Movistar.
“It’s been a long time since I enjoyed a game like this. I’m really happy but above all because the team won.”
Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa, shorn of injured stars Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo Goes among several others, started 18-year-old midfielder Thiago Pitarch after some recent bright displays.
Arbeloa said he was expecting a surprise or two from former Barca coach Guardiola, and the Catalan selected a particularly attacking line-up, seeking to capitalize on the frailties Madrid have exhibited this season.
Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi made their Champions League debuts and for an all-too-brief period City seemed to be settling in at the Bernabeu, before they unraveled.
“Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark,” City midfielder Bernardo Silva told TNT Sports.
“Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.”
Madrid took the lead against the run of play when Courtois thumped a long ball down the pitch in Valverde’s direction.
Nico O’Reilly misjudged it and the Madrid midfielder blazed through on goal. City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma came out to try and stop him but Valverde nipped around him and rolled home in the 20th minute.
Seven minutes later Madrid’s captain struck again. Vinicius Junior fed the midfielder who coolly drilled past Donnarumma to double the hosts’ lead.
Best for last
After a difficult first half of the season, consigned to playing at right-back mostly under Xabi Alonso, Arbeloa’s arrival in January has unleashed Valverde.
The 27-year-old snatched a last-gasp winner at Celta Vigo in La Liga on Friday and said that victory was one which had raised the team’s morale.
It appeared he was grasping for optimism ahead of the City clash in which most imagined Madrid to be underdogs, but Los Blancos played like a side who had found belief again.
Valverde completed a first career hat-trick before half-time with the best of his three strikes.
Valverde neatly flicked Brahim Diaz’s pass over the helpless Guehi and then volleyed home with aplomb as the Bernabeu crowd roared in delight. Finally they saw a Madrid they recognized, dynamic and, above all, competitive.
Diaz nearly netted a fourth soon after half-time but Donnarumma denied him, with City continuing to struggle after the interval.
Vinicius should have, after the Italian goalkeeper brought him down in the box, but Donnarumma read the Brazilian’s intentions and saved his low penalty.
Man City’s top scorer Haaland was kept quiet all night by Madrid center-backs Antonio Rudiger and Dean Huijsen, with Guardiola replacing him even while chasing a goal.
Instead City’s best chance to pull one back fell to O’Reilly as Pitarch’s focus waned, but Courtois made a stunning reaction save with his leg to deny him and secure a precious clean sheet.
“The feelings we were getting from outside were not of much confidence in this team, (but) we showed we’re Real Madrid and you can never count us out,” a proud Arbeloa told Movistar.
