Lionel Messi set a record after playing neatly in the fifth match of Group F Champions League Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund, Wednesday (11/27/2019). Messi’s record this time is somewhat special because it defeated two Real Madrid legends, namely Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul Gonzalez.
Barcelona vs Dortmund match at the Camp Nou Stadium ended 3-1 to win the host. In that match, Lionel Messi performed brilliantly by scoring one goal and two assists for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann.
One goal against Dortmund makes Messi has now broken down 34 different teams in the Champions League. Messi is the only player capable of doing that in Champions League history ahead of Ronaldo and Raul who have a record of 33 goals for the team.
Not only that, Messi also ended the bad trend of never scoring in three Barcelona home games in the group phase this season. After the match, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde was at a loss for words to praise Messi’s performance.
Valverde also hopes the front-line trio, Messi, Suarez and Griezmann, continue to show cohesiveness this season. “What can I say about Messi? He is an extraordinary player. Many people judge the relationship between Messi and Griezmann is not good, but you can see. Messi gave a good feed for Griezmann,” Valverde was quoted as saying on the Marca website.
“Great players will definitely have good connections. Examples are Suarez and Messi who already understand each other’s characters on the field. Messi and Griezmann will also form the same connections over time,” Valverde added.
Victory over Dortmund makes Barcelona qualify for the knockout phase with the status of Group F Champion. Furthermore, Barcelona has been awaited by Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Matchday 15 of the Spanish League will take place on Sunday (1/12/2019).
Here are five other interesting facts from the Barcelona vs Dortmund match:
4 – Jadon Sancho becomes the fourth British player to score against Barcelona at the Camp Nou Stadium. Three other players are Steve McManaman, Andy Cole, and Frank Lampard.
700 – The match against Dortmund became Lionel Messi’s 700th appearance with Barcelona in all competitions. Of the 700 matches, Messi has collected 613 goals and 237 assists.
7 – Antoine Griezmann becomes the 7th player to be able to score goals for Barcelona as well as against El Barca as opponents in the Champions League. The previous six players were Phillip Cocu, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gaizka Mendieta, Marc Overmars, and Cesc Fabregas.
16 – Barcelona equaled Real Madrid’s record of being able to escape the Champions League group stages of 16 seasons in a row.
10 – Goal against Dortmund is Luis Suarez’s 10th notch of the season. That is, Suarez in the last 15 seasons always managed to score double-digit goals.
