Lionel Messi shattered one of his own Champions League records by scoring the opening goal for Paris Saint-Germain against Benfica on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
Messi, 35, has now scored in the Champions League against 40 different opponents, which is more than any other player. 39 was a number he had already scored against when this campaign first began.
With nine goals against Arsenal in north London, the PSG forward has been one of the most prolific in the UEFA Champions League campaign.
With 126 goals, Messi ranks second all-time in Champions League scoring. Only Cristiano Ronaldo has more, with 140.
The next biggest goal scorers in the competition is Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona with 89 goals. Karim Benzema of Real Madrid with 86 goals and Lewandowski, are both well behind Ronaldo and Messi.
Before the Benfica match, PSG had won both of its first Champions League group matches, defeating Maccabi Haifa 3-1 and Juventus 2-1. In his debut goal against the Israeli team, Messi also scored against Haifa.
The Argentine also became the first player to score in 18 straight Champions League competitions with the goal against Benfica.
Lionel Messi
A forward for Ligue 1 team Paris Saint-Germain and captain of Argentina’s national team, Lionel Andrés Messi was born in Argentina on June 24, 1987.
Messi, who is recognized as one of the all-time best players, has a record seven Ballon d’Or victories, a record six European Golden Shoes, and in 2020, he was selected for the Ballon d’Or Dream Team.
He spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, retiring from the team in 2021 after winning a club-record 35 trophies there, including 10 La Liga championships, seven Copa del Rey championships, and four UEFA Champions Leagues.
Messi is an outstanding goal scorer and playmaker who holds the records for the most goals in La Liga (474), the most goals in a La Liga and European league season (50), the most hat-tricks in La Liga (36) and the UEFA Champions League (8), and the most assists in La Liga (192), the most assists in a La Liga season (21) and the Copa América (17).
Additionally, he holds the record for the most goals scored outside of South America by a man (90). Messi has the most goals by a player for a single club with over 780 goals in his senior career for club and nation.
Messi, who was born and bred in central Argentina, moved to Spain at the age of 13 to join Barcelona, where he made his professional debut in October 2004 at the age of 17.
Within the following three years, he established himself as a key member of the team, and in his first continuous season in 2008–09, Messi won his first Ballon d’Or at the age of 22 while helping Barcelona win the first treble in Spanish football.
After three successful seasons, Messi became the first player to win the Ballon d’Or four times in a row by winning the honor in that span.
Messi’s goals in the Champions League
Below, we have list of clubs Lionel Messi has scored against in the Champions League and how many goals he scored against them.
| Opponent | Goals |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | 9 |
| Celtic | 8 |
| Milan | 8 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 7 |
| Manchester City | 7 |
| Ajax | 6 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 6 |
| Lyon | 5 |
| FC Bayern München | 4 |
| Manchester United | 4 |
| Panathinaikos | 4 |
| PSV | 4 |
| Spartak Moscow | 4 |
| APOEL Nicosia | 3 |
| Chelsea | 3 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 3 |
| Copenhagen | 3 |
| Juventus | 3 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 3 |
| Viktoria Plzen | 3 |
| Basel | 2 |
| BATE Borisov | 2 |
| Club Brugge | 2 |
| Liverpool | 2 |
| RB Leipzig | 2 |
| Real Madrid | 2 |
| Roma | 2 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 2 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 1 |
| Borussia Monchengladbach | 1 |
| Ferencvarosi TC | 1 |
| Maccabi Haifa | 1 |
| Napoli | 1 |
| Olympiakos | 1 |
| Rangers | 1 |
| Slavia Prague | 1 |
| Sporting CP | 1 |
| SV Werder Bremen | 1 |
| Benfica | 1 |
