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Thursday, November 6, 2014

The Stats behind Lionel Messi’s Equaling of Raul Champions League Goalscoring Record


Lionel Messi beat Cristiano Ronaldo to Raul’s Champions League all-time goalscoring record after striking twice in Barcelona’s 2-0 win at Ajax on Wednesday night.

Trailing Ronaldo by one goal and two further adrift of Raul’s 71-goals benchmark, the Argentine and Barcelona maestro found his first which equaled Ronaldo’s haul in the 36th minute before equaling Raul’s record with a close range finish in the 76th minute.

His two goals helped secure Barcelona’s progression to the last 16 alongside Paris Saint Germain who had a 1-0 success against APOEL Nicosia, Edinson Cavani’s strike inside the first minute being the only goal in the match.

Ronaldo had the first chance to equal or even surpass Raul’s record in Real Madrid’s away game at Liverpool a day earlier but the Portuguese failed to get past the Reds defence with Karim Benzema netting in a 1-0 win.

Messi’s record-equaling fete looks even more impressive given the fact that he has played fewer games than either Ronaldo or Raul. Messi found his 71st goal in 90 Champions League games for Barcelona, Raul needed 142 appearances for his 71 while Ronaldo has scored 70 in 106 matches for Real Madrid.

His goal haul has included 4 hat-tricks and 8 penalties. The of the goals, 61, have come from inside the box with just 10 outside. Messi's lethal foot has contributed 59 goals with 8 goals coming from his right foot and 4 from his head, the highlight being the looping header against Manchester United in the 2009 Champions League final which they won 2-0, Samuel Eto’o having opened the scoring.

Scoring against AC Milan has been the 27-year-old’s favorite dish, the Italian side having conceded 8 goals, 2 more than Ajax, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen. Greek side Panathanaikos and Russian outfit Spartak Moscow have both conceded 4 Lionel Messi goals while Celtic, FC Copenhagen and Olympique Lyonnais have all conceded three each.

Ronaldo and Messi, two of the world’s best players, will now fight for who becomes the Champions League all time goal scorer having steered their clubs to the last 16 with two games to spare.

And That's thesteifmastertake!!

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