Paris Saint Germain(PSG) and Argentina forward, Lionel Messi last night become the first player to score against 40 different sides in the UEFA Champions League after his superb first half strike against Benifica.
The 35-year old opened the scoring midway through the first half after a delightful link-up play with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar before a trademark curling left-foot finish from the edge of the box.
The goal meant the seven times Ballon d’Or winner became the first player in Champions League history to score goals against 40 different opponents.
The French champions however, failed to find a winner as they took just a point despite having so many scoring chances.
They gave away their lead in the 41st minute when an inviting in-swinging cross from Enzo Fernandez touched off PSG defender Danilo Pereira and into the net to count as an own goal and level the scores.
PSG have just won once in their last seven away Champions League matches and are without a clean sheet in their last 11 games in the competition.
The result also meant PSG and Benfica remain level on points at the top of Group H after three matches. The two teams will meet again in Paris on Tuesday while Juventus sit in third on three points after they got their first win of the competition from point-less Maccabi Haifa in the same group.
Meanwhile, Messi has now scored in six successive games for club and country, the first time he has done so in nearly four years.
He was substituted in the 81st minute and his coach Christophe Galtier explained that the former Barcelona star was replaced with Pablo Sarabia because he signaled that he was tired.
“He signaled that he wanted to come off. On the final sprint, he felt tired. He came off as he was tired and a fresher teammate was a much better option at that moment,” Galtier told reporters after the game.
