Barcelona put one foot into the quarter finals by beating Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 away in the first leg of their Champions League knockout fixture last night. A brace from Adriano and a goal from Messi was enough to hand Guardiola a much needed victory after a tumultous few weeks.
Once again, it’s Barca star Lionel Messi who is making all the headlines. The 24 year old broke the competitions knockout stage record of 18 goals set by Raul and Andriy Shevchenko as he took his tally at this stage of the tournament to 19 goals.
Of course, there is a possibility that it could increase when the return leg is played at the Nou Camp in two weeks time. Truth be said, Messi is simply an amazing player.
At only 24 and with 44 goals already to his name, there is no doubt that Messi will break Raul’s record of the most goals scored in European club competition history. The former Spain international has so far scored 71 goals and counting, however, with age catching up with him, it will be hard to better that tally.
The other players to feature in the tournament’s all time list of top goal scorers in chronological order include: Ruud Van Nilstelrooy with 56 goals, Thierry Henry with 55 goals, Schevchenko with 48 goals and Filipo Inzaghi with 46 goals.
With a huge chunk of the season still left to play, Messi has already notched up 37 goals so far this season and he is on course to match or even beat the 53 that he scored last season.
So here is a look at the top five scorers in the knockout stages of the Champions League:
- Lionel Messi 19 goals.
- Raul 18 goals.
- Schevchenko 18 goals.
- Filippo Inzaghi 16 goals.
- Wayne Rooney 14 goals.
It will be hard for any player to match the momentum Messi has gained over the years, however, i do believe that despite his impressive achievements, it would be nice if the media also focused on other record breaking players like Cristiano Ronaldo because he has broken quite a number of records too!
Meanwhile, in the other fixture of the night, French side Olympique Lyon were 1-0 winners over Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia with Alexander Lacazette scoring the lone goal.
Photo Credit © PerfectSmile_LeoCuccini
