Argentina wizard Lionel Messi broke the European Champions League
scoring record and Luis Suarez broke his duck as Barcelona romped to a
4-0 win at APOEL Nicosia.
Messi came into the match level with
Raul on 71 Champions League goals but he stabbed home from close range
on 37 minutes to take sole possession of the record.
He went on to
notch a hat-trick as Barcelona remained a point behind Paris
Saint-Germain at the top of Group F after the French team beat Ajax 3-1
thanks to an Edinson Cavani brace and one from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Both sides have already qualified for the knockout rounds and top spot will be decided in two weeks time at the Camp Nou.
Messi's feat came just four days after the four-time World Player of
the Year broke Telmo Zarra's 59-year-old record of 251 La Liga goals
with a hat-trick in a 5-1 thrashing of Sevilla to take his tally in the
Spanish top flight to 253 goals in 289 appearances.
Just 10
minutes before that, Suarez, who moved from Liverpool in the close
season, had finally notched his first goal - a brilliant solo effort -
for the Catalans in his fifth appearance since making his debut in a 3-1
loss to Real Madrid on October 25.
On a day of records, Roma
stalwart Francesco Totti extended his mark as oldest scorer in the
Champions League in his side's 1-1 draw at CSKA.
At 38 years, one
month and 29 days, his 43rd minute goal saw him extend the record he
previously set in September to break a three-year-old mark set by former
Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs.
But Vasily Berezutsky's
equaliser 17 seconds from the end of time-added-on kept the Russians in
the race for the knockout stages and sets up a thrilling final round of
matches.
In Group H, Shakhtar Donetsk booked their place in the knockout rounds despite losing 1-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao.
That
was because Porto, who have won the group, cruised to a 3-0 win at BATE
Borisov, who have now let in 22 goals, equalling the record number of
goals conceded in the group stages.
AFP
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