Lionel Messi races to 125 Champions League goals: Key numbers
Seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi scored a brace on matchday six of the UEFA Champions League 2021-22 season. Messi and Kylian Mbappe scored two goals each as Paris Saint-Germain brushed aside Club Brugge 4-1. With his brace, Messi has now raced to 125 career Champions League goals as PSG ended their group stage journey with 11 points. Here are the key numbers.
Why does this story matter?
This was another superb performance by Messi, who has produced the goods in every season in the UCL with his goals and assists. To get to 125 UCL goals is something extraordinary. The records and numbers that follow are an icing on the cake.
Second player to amass this feat
Messi is now just the second player in Champions League history to net 125 or more goals. Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo leads the scoring chart with 140 goals. Messi scored his fifth Champions League goal for PSG since a move in the summer. He had earlier netted 120 UCL goals for former club Barcelona.
Key feats attained by Messi
As per Opta, Messi has found the net in his first three home games with PSG in the Champions League, only George Weah in 1994 and Neymar in 2017 have also achieved this with PSG in the competition. All of Messi's goals have come at home in this season's Champions League. He has scored five goals at the Parc des Princes.
Records scripted by Messi
Messi has now scored against 38 different clubs in the Champions League. He has gone level with Ronaldo in terms of this unique record. Messi now has 76 group stage goals in the Champions League, three clear of Ronaldo (73). For the 35th time Messi has scored two-plus goals in a Champions League game as well.
A brace for the 35th time
How did the match pan out?
Mbappe netted PSG's opener which came after 72 seconds. He fired into the bottom corner when goal-keeper Simon Mignolet palmed a cross into his path. Mbappe then volleyed in from Angel di Maria's clipped pass to make it 2-0. Messi's emphatic finish after dribbling the ball saw PSG go 3-0 ahead. He added the fourth before Rits pulled one back for Club Brugge.
Records smashed by Mbappe
After just six minutes and 23 seconds, Mbappe has scored the second-fastest brace by a player from the start of a UCL match. He is only behind Rodrygo, who achieved the same for Real Madrid against Galatasary in 2019 (06:13). Mbappe has 31 goals, becoming the youngest player to reach the milestone of 30-plus goals in the competition's history (22 years and 352 days).
