lionel Messi made a slice of European football history as the Barcelona striker hit a hat trick to become the Champions league’s all-time top scorer in a 4-0 win over APOEl on Tuesday.
Three days after breaking a Spanish league record that had stood since 1955, Messi was again unstoppable.“Messi is the best player of all time ... a player who will continue to surprise us for a long time to come,” Barcelona coach luis Enrique said.The Argentine scored his first goal in the 38th minute of the Group F match after redirecting Brazilian midfielder Rafihna’s shot from 20 yards out.
It was Messi’s 72nd Champions league goal, beating the previous mark of 71 by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul.Messi scored again in the 58th after getting on the end of Daniel Alves’ through ball to chip past APOEl goalkeeper Urko Pardo.His third — and 74th overall — came three minutes before the end of regulation time when he tapped the ball home from point blank range after Pedro Rodriguez cut the ball back.
Uruguay’s luis Suarez scored Barcelona’s other goal in the 27th when he eluded his marker with a clever pivot and curled the ball into the far corner for his first competitive goal for Barcelona.Barcelona had kept APOEl on the back foot throughout the match.Messi produced Barcelona’s first good scoring chance just three minutes after the start when he latched onto a through pass and blasted a shot but APOEl goalkeeper Urko Parko was able to parry the ball.
A couple of minutes before halftime, Suarez just missed with a well-struck shot 20 yards (meters) out.Barcelona again dominated after the interval. A backpass by Messi in the 73rd found a charging Suarez alone in the box, but Pardo did well to save the Uruguyan’s low, hard shot.APOEl’s best chance came in the 66nd on a counterattack after Argentinian forward Tomas De Vincenti’s shot from inside the box tested Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Barcelona was reduced to 10 players in the 70th when Rafinha was sent off for a second booking after a foul on De Vincenti. APOEl also finished the match with 10 players after defender Joao Guilherme was dismissed with a second yellow card.APOEl coach George Donis wasn’t surprised by the result. “I consider this natural when facing a team like Barcelona to lose by such a wide margin,” he said.
City beat Bayern 3-2
Manchester (England): Sergio Aguero scored a hat trick — including two late goals — to inspire Manchester City to a 3-2 win over 10-man Bayern Munich on Tuesday, reviving the English champions’ chances of reaching the knockout stage.
Aguero put City ahead with a 21st-minute penalty that led to the sending-off of defender Mehdi Benatia, then capitalized on defensive errors to score again in the 85th and in the first minute of stoppage time. “If you want to succeed at anything, you need a special player in special form. Sergio Aguero is our special player,” City captain Vincent Kompany said of the Argentina striker, who has scored 17 goals in 18 games this season.
Somehow, despite picking up just two points from its first four matches in Group E, City can still qualify for the last 16. City is tied on five points with Roma and CSKA Moscow, seven behind already-qualified Bayern. Heading into the final round of group games, City will advance if it beats Roma away and CSKA fails to win at Bayern.
Bayern fell to its first loss in 19 competitive games this season, losing focus late on having played a man short from the 20th minute when Benatia — as last man — fouled Aguero as the striker prepared to shoot. The center back was given a straight red card.
Still, the German champions — fielding a weakened team with first place in the group assured — belied its numerical inferiority by coming from behind to lead at Etihad Stadium through goals by Xabi Alonso and Robert lewandowski in the final five minutes of the first half.
Bayern toyed with City in a 3-1 win here in last season’s group stage and it was the same 13 months on. Indeed, with Alonso — on his 33rd birthday — running the game from the base of Bayern’s midfield, it was hard to know which team was a player short at times. “We gave them the game,” Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said. “They had hardly any chances with 11 against 10 ... we were tired in the last 10 minutes.”
Chelsea beat Schalke 5-0
Gelsenkirchen (Germany): Chelsea crushed Schalke 5-0 on Tuesday to seal a place in the knockout stages of the Champions league with a dominant performance by midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
Goals by John Terry, Willian and an own goal by Jan Kirchhoff before halftime, plus goals in quick succession by second-half substitutes Didier Drogba and Ramires, made sure Chelsea won Group G with one match to spare. Roberto di Matteo won the Champions league as coach of Chelsea in 2012, but his new club Schalke was comprehensively outplayed by the london side, which now has 11 points from five matches. Schalke has five points and needs a win at Maribor in the final match to have any chance of advancing.