Lionel Messi sensationally broke two Champions League goal records in one night for Paris Saint-Germain.
The Argentinian ace scored a stunning goal for the French giants as they drew 1-1 with Benfica in their third Champions League group stage game of the season. His goal came after an exquisite bit of link-up play with fellow PSG superstars Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
Messi fed the ball into Mbappe, who played a short pass to the in-form Neymar to his left. The Brazilian then found Messi, who had continued his run, before the diminutive magician curled a wondrous strike into the top left-hand corner.
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In doing so, Messi scored his ninth goal of the campaign already. But more importantly, he became the first ever player to score against 40 different teams in the tournament’s history.
The maestro extended his own previous record of 39 different teams, demonstrating he is still capable of producing golden moments and shattering records despite being 35-years-old.
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(Image: @btsport/Twitter)
(Image: @btsport/Twitter)
Messi also broke the record for the number of goals scored from outside the penalty box in the Champions League. A significant number of those came during his time at Barcelona, where he netted a staggering 120 goals to become the competition’s second-highest ever goal-scorer.
And it may not be too long before the Copa America winner is back strutting his stuff again for his boyhood Catalan club. It was reported on Wednesday by Argentine journalist and close friend of the Messi family Veronica Brunati: “July 1, 2023, Lionel #Messi will be a Barça player.”
The report understandably sent social media into a frenzy just over a year after the player was forced to leave Barcelona in an emotional farewell. But with his contract running out at the end of this season, we could very well see him notch more Champions League records for the Spanish giants again in 2023.
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