The focus on Super Sunday was expected to be on Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. They both failed to deliver. Miserably, rather. Instead, two North African stole the show; one of them for wrong reason, though. Egyptian Mohamed Salah struck a wonderful hat-trick in Liverpool’s 5-0 victory at Old Trafford to inflict pain on home side Manchester United. In Marseille, star-studded Paris Saint-Germain didn’t succeed in breaking the hosts’ defence and returned with a goalless draw. PSG could have been in deeper trouble – their Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi was sent off at hour’s mark for an unfair challenge on Cengiz Under. The 22-year-old wing back’s hasty tackle carried the danger of costing his team all three points, but Mauricio Pochettino’s boys somehow managed to keep the slate clean.

Pushing 30, Salah is undoubtedly one of world’s greatest players now. He is smart too. He doesn’t get into trouble too easily – he rather forces others commit mistakes. Remember how he was accused of “winning” a penalty against West Ham last November? Or how the doubting Thomases reacted when he was “brought” down inside the box by City’s Ruben Dias? But the referees in both cases felt they were genuine fouls and that settled the arguments. A statistical survey last year, however, claimed Liverpool committed more fouls than any other team in the Premier League but received fewer punishments from men in black compared to other teams. Another study said Mo Salah was definitely not one of the most fouled attackers on the pitch as claimed by his fans often.

Well, Hakimi is no match to Salah in name, fame and achievements, but as a wing back he is among the world’s best. Unlike Salah, the Moroccan came up through an elite system – born in Madrid, he joined Real Madrid’s youth set up at the age of eight in 2006. Though nothing compared to the hype that was created during Messi’s transfer, Hakimi’s move to PSG from Inter was no small issue. The French club reportedly paid a transfer fee of 60 million Euro – the Moroccan didn’t do favour to his team by picking up the red.