Five-Star Messi

Barcelona (FCB).- Lionel Messi wears the number 10 on the back of his jersey, but against Bayer 04 Leverkusen this evening he put in a Five Star performance. The FC Barcelona player scored five goals; two in the first half, three in the second. His brilliant display broke long-standing European records. But Messi, despite his unworldly performance, remains humble. “The most important thing is that we won, that’s what we wanted,” he said when he was told that this was the first time in a player managed to score five goals in one game.

Here are some interesting facts and stats about Leo Messi in international competitions:

• Messi is the first player in the history of the UEFA Champions League (in its current format) to score five goals in one game.

• He’s the first player in the history of the European Cup (in all formats) to score five goals at this stage of the competition.

• The Argentinean has scored 12 goals in this edition of the Champions League, the same amount that he scored last season (he was the tournaments highest goal scorer).

• It’s been a year (March 8^th, against Arsenal) since Messi has scored at the Camp Nou in the Champions League.

• Messi is the second Barça player in the history of FC Barcelona to score five goals in a single European match (Zaldúa did it on October 6^th, 1965).

• With his five goals, Messi is only seven goals away from being FC Barcelona’s all-time highest scorer (235).

• He’s the first player to ever score five goals in the European Cup (in all its formats) for a team that plays in the Spanish League.

• Messi is the 11^th player to score five goals in a European Cup match (the last player to do it was Lerby, with Ajaz, in 1979 against Omonia).

• Messi’s 49 goals in the competition see him level with Alfredo Di Stefano as the 6^th highest goal scorer in the history of the competition.

• Of his 49 goals in the Champions League, 25 were scored at the Camp Nou, and 22 away from home; the other 2 were scored in finals.

• Messi has scored 54 goals in international competitions: 49 in the Champions League, 4 in the Club World Cup and 1 in the European Super Cup.