As Champions League football returns, La Liga giants Barcelona faced Dutch champions PSV on Tuesday, a game which saw the Spanish Champions achieve a thumping victory over their opponents.
The game also saw individual records being broken as Argentine ace Lionel Messi notched his eighth UEFA Champions League hat-trick thereby becoming the first player to do so.
⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️ 87: GOOOOAAAALLLL! HAT TRICK MESSI!!!!! 🔵🔴 #BarçaPSV (4-0) pic.twitter.com/bTJ6mEjeya
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 18, 2018
Barcelona’s all-time top scorer opened the bank with a phenomenal free-kick at the 32nd minute. This was followed by Ousmane Dembele’s curling strike in the 75th minute to add to his side’s goal tally. The goal is the French forward’s fifth from six games in all competitions this season.
Leo Messi has now scored a record 8⃣ #UCL hat-tricks ⚽️⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/VmQFdzrKO0
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 18, 2018
Messi scored his second goal only two minutes later when Ivan Rakitic’s pass was netted home for Barcelona’s third goal.
The Argentine then completed his hat-trick in the 87th minute when a lovely chipped pass from Luis Suarez was struck home from 15 yards by the captain.
PSV are the 30th team Messi has scored against in the Champions League,. The man has also managed to find the net past a staggering 179 goalkeepers.
Messi OVERTAKES Ronaldo as king of the Champions League hat-trick..!!#messi #barcelona #ronaldo #juvemtus #BarcelonavsPSVEindhoven #football #suareznavarro #neymar #livemirors #WednesdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/pI7EpOCs5h
— LIVEMIRORS (@LMirors) September 19, 2018
The new Barcelona captain appears to have put away his team’s torrid World Cup campaign and has since scored seven goals in six games this season.
The Argentine now has 104 goals to his name in the competition. He has also scored 14 consecutive goals in the Champions League campaign, putting him alongside Real Madrid legend Raul in a joint record.
Another game ball for the collection. 😜 pic.twitter.com/mqtN8O1NQo
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 18, 2018
The match ball from Barcelona’s 4-0 victory over PSV Eindhoven is going home with Lionel Messi, who scored his eighth Champions League hat-trick. He had been level with Cristiano Ronaldo on seven hat-tricks in Europe’s premier club competition, but the Argentine now moves ahead of his great rival in this regard.
Way behind the top two are Filippo Inzaghi, Mario Gomez and Luiz Adriano with three Champions League hat-tricks each.