8 march,2012
Lionel Messi broke his own Champions League record as he scored five goals in Barcelona's 7-1 demolition of Bayer Leverkusen in their second leg last 16 tie Wednesday.
The World Player of the Year had set the previous best of four against Arsenal two season ago and proceeded to go one better with a dazzling display in the Nou Camp.
He now has 12 goals from seven Champions League matches this season as the defending champions waltzed into the quarterfinals 10-2 on aggregate against their unfortunate German opponents.
"You can expect anything from Leo," teammate Cesc Fabregas told AFP.
"He is the best player in history, we have never seen anyone like him."
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, the Bundesliga side could not contain Messi as he scored twice before the break in the 25th and 42nd minutes.
Messi claimed his hat-trick early in the second with a lob after he eluded a static Bayer defense from a Fabregas through pass.
Youngster Chritian Tello added Barca's fourth, again set up by former Arsenal star Fabregas.
Messi then scored from a tight angle for his fourth after a defensive error and goalkeeper Bernd Leno was at fault again as he allowed a weak Tello shot to go in for the sixth.
Messi's fifth with six minutes to go was unstoppable before Karim Bellarabi scored a consolation for the visitors.
The night's other Champions League tie saw triumph for Cypriot underdogs Apoel Nicosia as they reached the quarterfinals for the first time in their history.
Apoel beat French giants Lyon 1-0 after extra time for a 1-1 aggregate score then won the penalty shootout 4-3.
Dionissis Chiotis was the home hero with two saves in the shootout after Gustavo Manduca scored the only goal of the night in normal time to cancel out Alexandre Lacazette's winner for Lyon in the first leg.
No comments:
Post a Comment