Lionel Messi sets Champions League scoring record

FC Barcelona Star Lionel Messi broke the record for the most goals in a single Champions League (14 Goals)campaign and equalled the all-time European Cup record when he netted an 11th-minute penalty against AC Milan in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday April 03,2012.

Lionel Messi became the outright holder of the record for most goals (14 goals)in a single UEFA Champions League campaign after scoring the first of his two penalties(in 11th and 41st Minute of First Half) in FC Barcelona's 3-1 quarter-final triumph against AC Milan.(3rd goal scored by Iniesta in the 53rd Minute)

 

Lionel Messi's current total of 14 Goals is the most since the tournament evolved from the European Cup in the 1992-93 campaign.

Lionel Messi is now level, though, with Brazilian-born Jose Altafini, who scored 14 times for AC Milan during the 1962-63 European Cup.

Lionel Messi's overall Champions League tally is now  51 Goals, making him the youngest player to score half-century of goals in Europe's premier club cup competition.

Also Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a single match in the 7-1 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen last month, and is also the all-time highest scorer in the competition's knock-out stages.

Lionel Messi had shared the previous record with former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, after netting 12 times in the tournament in 2010-11 when Barca won the trophy.

UEFA Champions League leading scorers season by season
2010/11: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – 12 goals
2009/10: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – 8
2008/09: Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) – 9
2007/08: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United FC) – 8
2006/07: Kaká (AC Milan) – 10
2005/06: Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) – 9
2004/05: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United FC) – 8
2003/04: Fernando Morientes (AS Monaco FC) – 9
2002/03: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United FC) – 12
2001/02: Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United FC) – 10
2000/01: Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan) – 9
1999/00: Mário Jardel (FC Porto), Rivaldo (FC Barcelona), Raúl González (Real Madrid CF) – 10
1998/99: Andriy Shevchenko (FC Dynamo Kyiv), Dwight Yorke (Manchester United FC) – 8
1997/98: Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus) – 10
1996/97: Milinko Pantić (Club Atlético de Madrid) – 5
1995/96: Jari Litmanen (AFC Ajax) – 9
1994/95: George Weah (Paris Saint-Germain FC) – 7
1993/94: Ronald Koeman (FC Barcelona), Wynton Rufer (SV Werder Bremen) – 8
1992/93: Romário (PSV Eindhoven) – 7