Lionel Messi Becomes 1st Player to Score in 16 Straight UEFA Champions League Seasons

Every time Lionel Messi takes the pitch, he makes or breaks record. Wednesday was no different. Lionel Messi set a new Champions League record during FC Barcelona's thumping 5-1 win over Hungarian side Ferencvaros in their Group G opener at the Camp Nou. Messi opened the scoring in the match while Ansu Fati, Philippe Coutinho, Pedri and Ousmane Dembele also contributed to the scoreline.

Messi scored from the spot to get Barcelona going on and with the penalty, he became the first player to score in 16 straight Champions League seasons. His greatest rival Cristiano Ronaldo is currently at 15 and was not available for Juventus' Champions League opener on Wednesday after testing positive for coronavirus.

Apart from this record, Messi also extended his own record by scoring against a 36th different team in the Champions League. His penalty was his 69th Champions League group stage goal, more than any other player.

Messi had earned the penalty himself after his dazzling run up front. He cut inside from the right, dribbling past Ihor Kharatin to get into the box. He was all set to take it past Kovacevic when he stuck a leg out to bring down the Barcelona captain and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. Messi stepped up himself and slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner.

This was Barcelona's first game since the embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals last season. Barcelona are trying to win their first Champions League title since 2015.

Kharatin scored Ferencvaros’ lone goal from a penalty that led to a straight red card to Barcelona defender Gerard Pique with about 20 minutes left on the clock.

Other results on the night:

Club Brugge beat Zenit 2-1

Juventus beat Dynamo Kyiv 2-0

RB Leipzig beat Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0

Rennes drew 1-1 with Krasnodar

Lazio beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1

Chelsea drew 0-0 with Sevilla

Manchester United beat PSG 2-1