“With Borussia Mönchengladbach’s back line set and the game still goalless, Messi pauses inside the box to steady himself before sweeping Arda Turan’s low cutback into the far corner, a composed first-time left-foot finish that breaks the deadlock and becomes his 93rd Champions League goal.”
Extending a rich scoring run with his fourth goal in five Champions League outings, Messi controls the tempo for 90 minutes against Gladbach in a relaxed group finale that underlines how routinely he dominates Europe even on a low‑stakes night.
From a tight central pocket against PSV’s packed box, Messi calmly meets Rakitić’s cushioned layoff with a first-time left-foot finish into the corner, completing his hat-trick and pushing his Champions League tally to 102 goals.
With PSV’s defence packed on the edge of the box at 0–0, Messi calmly shapes his left-foot finish through a crowd from a tight central pocket to break the deadlock, adding Champions League goal number 106 to his career tally of 632.
In a tense El Clásico Champions League semi-final deadlocked at 0–0, Messi latches onto Afellay’s low cross to break Madrid’s resistance and give Barcelona a crucial first-leg lead, on the way to a brace and his 35th Champions League goal.
With Argentina’s World Cup hopes hanging in the balance in Quito, Messi restores a 2–1 lead over Ecuador on the way to a rescue hat-trick, his second strike of the night and 20th goal in World Cup qualifiers.