Argentinos Abroad: Messi scores 100th goal in European competion & Di María nets in PSG victory (VIDEO)

· by · in argentina, goals, Uncategorized. ·

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A busy night in the Champions League saw Lionel Messi reach yet another milestone in his astonishing career as the Argentinian genius scored his 100th goal in European competition as Barcelona defeated Olympiakos 3-1

Messi’s free kick on the hour mark doubled ten-man Barcelona’s lead and made the 30-year-old only the second player to reach the landmark after Cristiano Ronaldo, albeit in fewer matches.

A Dimitris Nikolaou own goal had already given Barcelona the lead in the Camp Nou and eve after Gerard Piqué’s red card, the home side were still on top. Messi extended the lead and minutes later skipped down the right before cutting the ball back for Lucas Digne to add a third.

 

Nikolaou did head a consolation goal for the Greek side but Barcelona were able to maintain their 100% start to the Champions League.

For the seventh time in the past eight calendar years, Messi has now reached 50 goals for club and country and with 97 Champions League goals and three more in the European Super Cup, the world’s best player joins the elite 100 club.

Elsewhere in Group D, Juventus picked up a late victory over Sporting Clube de Portugal. Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuaín both started for the Italian champions but couldn’t get on the scoresheet while Marcos Acuña, Rodrigo Battaglia and Jonathan Silva all featured for Sporting.

Paris Saint-Germain made relatively light work of Anderlecht in Group B with a 4-0 win in Brussels. Kylian Mbappé, Edinson Cavani and Neymar had put PSG firmly in control before substitute Angel di María dashed clear to clip a fourth over the goalkeeper. Giovani Lo Celso also entered as a late substitute but is still yet to break into the starting eleven.

In the highly competitive Group C, Roma claimed an impressive 3-3 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and while Edin Dzeko’s brace took the headlines, Diego Perotti impressed. Federico Fazio started in central defence as the Serie A club came from two-down to lead 3-2 before eventually settling for a point.

Atlético Madrid will have been pleased to see the draw after Diego Simeone’s side failed to find a way past Azerbaijani club Qarabag to remain without a win in this year’s competition. Nicolás Gaitán started but failed to make an impact and even after Ángel Correa was introduced for the last 20 minutes against ten men, Atleti couldn’t muster a goal.

And finally in Group A, Benfica are as good as out after slipping to a third straight defeat. 18-year-old goalkeeper Mile Svilar’s error handed Manchester United a 1-0 win in Lisbon and sitting rooted to the bottom of the group it looks as though Eduardo Salvio and Franco Cervi won’t be getting much more Champions League experience this season.

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