Lionel Messi breaks personal records in the Champions League win over Chelsea

Football
By Robert Nyanja | Mar 15, 2018
Lionel Messi scored brace to lead Barcelona through to the quarters [Photo: Courtesy]

Barcelona passed through to the quarter finals of the Champions League after a 3-0 win over Premier League champions Chelsea.

It was one of the best nights for Lionel Messi as he broke some personal records that he was delighted with.

The 30-year-old opened the scoring after just two minutes and eight seconds on Wednesday night, beating Thibaut Courtois from a tight angle. The goal was Messi’s fastest ever in his professional career for both Barcelona and Argentina.

Messi celebrated with Gomes after scoring first goal for Barcelona [Photo: Courtesy]

The Argentina national team captain also assisted Ousmane Dembele to score the second goal for the Catalans before becoming only the second player after Cristiano Ronaldo to reach 100 goals in the Champions League.

Ousmane Dembele scoring the second goal for Barcelona [Photo: Courtesy]
Lionel Messi scoring the third goal and 100th goal in the Champions League [Photo: Courtesy]

Lionel Messi was thrilled to get to the milestone and was also happy that his team managed to move into the quarters.

"I'm happy to have reached 100 goals in such a beautiful competition, but the important thing was to move forward in a difficult match against a team with lots of really good players," Messi told UEFA.

"We managed to score early and this was important. I'm happy with how it all happened.

"This was a tough match and we were strong as a team. When we scored the third then the tie was practically ours." He added.

Antonio Conte praised Messi as world best after making the difference in the clash [Photo: Courtesy]

Messi also appreciated the comments from Chelsea’s boss Antonio Conte who said that he was the best player in the world and made the difference in the clash.

"I didn't hear him, but they told me what he said and I thank him for his words," he said.

"I am happy for how this night has ended and for reaching the quarter-finals, which is what we wanted." He added.

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