Lionel Messi, world champion and author of 799 goals in his professional career, will play this afternoon with his team, Paris Saint-Germain, a decisive match against Bayern Munich in Germany, for a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
After the 1-0 defeat in the first leg of the round of 16 in France, the match will be played from 5:00 p.m. at the Allianz Arena stadium in Munich, with refereeing by Italian Daniele Orsato and broadcast by ESPN and Star+.
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If PSG win 1-0, an extension will be played and if the overall result persists, the series will be defined with kicks from the penalty mark.
PSG must turn the result around if they want to pass the phase. (REUTERS/Christian Hartmann)By: REUTERS
Messi is the second all-time scorer in the European Champions League with 129 goals (Cristiano Ronaldo is the top with 141); and the third with the most games played -with 162- behind the Spanish Iker Casillas (181) and CR7 (187).
However, the man from Rosario has had a series of frustrations in the Champions League since he last won it with Barcelona in the 2014/15 season.
Last season they suffered a tough elimination in the round of 16 against Real Madrid after dominating the series by two goals difference until the last half hour of the revenge, at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
His last participation in the quarterfinals was with Barcelona precisely against Bayern Munich in the 2020 edition, which was played in a single match due to the coronavirus pandemic in Portugal, and he said goodbye after the historic 8-2 in favor of the Germans.
Neymar will not be able to play due to an injury that will keep him off the field for several months. Messi and Mbappé will be the strikers against the Teutonic team. (Photo REUTERS/Stephane Mahe)By: REUTERS
The team led by Christophe Galtier will not have the Brazilian Neymar, who is ruled out for the rest of the season due to injury, but trusts in the offensive power of Messi’s duo with Kylian Mbappé.
The German team, winner of six “Orejonas”, is the current leader in the Bundesliga along with Borussia Dortmund and has two records with PSG in the Champions League.
In the 2019/20 season they won the final 1-0 but in the following edition they fell in the quarterfinals against the Parisian team.
Messi looks for his goal 800 in professional competitions
Nothing stops Lionel Messi heading towards the challenge of being the greatest scorer in the history of football. With 799 goals in his entire career, he was one away from breaking the 800-goal mark, something only two footballers in more than 100 years could achieve: the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and the Austrian Josef Bican. Today, he is third, but with second place within reach of his left foot.
After being world champion with the Argentine National Team in the World Cup in Qatar and fulfilling the greatest dream of his football life, the auction for an unparalleled career would be to top the table of top scorers of all time. A goal that Leo will not talk about because he always puts the collective objectives in the foreground, but that would obviously give him the finishing touch.
Messi has been on the scorer’s podium since he surpassed Pelé’s 765 goals in December 2021. His numbers are surprising: 799 goals in 1013 games (average 0.79 per game) with the shirts of Barcelona (672 goals), Paris Saint Germain (29 goals) and the Argentine National Team (98 goals).
Leo could reach 800 goals this Wednesday against Bayern Munich in the rematch for the round of 16 of the Champions League, in a key match for the luck of the Parisian team in the competition (they lost 1-0 at home in the match outward). Then come Stade Brestois and Lens in Ligue 1, where he, too, will have the opportunity to reach or exceed that remarkable mark.