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Messi's top UEFA Champions League goals

UEFA.com reflects on Lionel Messi's most notable goals to date in Europe's elite competition with the 27-year-old bidding to add another milestone to his record collection.

See ten magical Messi goals

Lionel Messi swept in his 69th UEFA Champions League goal as FC Barcelona swept aside AFC Ajax at the Camp Nou on matchday three. His latest strike in Europe placed him just two behind Raúl González in the competition's all-time top scorer listings. UEFA.com reflects on his landmark goals to date as the 27-year-old looks set to add another milestone.

THE FIRST – FC Barcelona 5-0 Panathinaikos FC, 02/11/2005
It took Messi five games to break his duck in the UEFA Champions League, but once he made his breakthrough in the 2005/06 season, there was to be no stopping him. With the Blaugrana already two up on their visitors, Samuel Eto'o harassed the Greek side's back line into a mistake on the left-hand corner of the box, which the Argentinian pounced upon, dinking the ball over the onrushing Mario Galinović before firing into an empty net. The first of many.

THE FINAL  FC Barcelona 3-1 Manchester United FC, 28/05/2011
Barcelona put on a master class at Wembley to see off United, and man-of-the-match Messi scored his side's crucial second early in the second half to put the Spanish champions back in front. Sir Alex Ferguson declared after the match: "While players like Lionel Messi and Xavi [Hernández] are around it will be very difficult to beat them. They're the best team I have ever seen." High praise indeed.

THE WONDER GOAL  Real Madrid CF 0-2 FC Barcelona, 27/04/2011
Messi did not disappoint in the Clásico UEFA Champions League semi-final. Having opened the scoring, the attacker picked the ball up inside the centre circle with four minutes remaining, played a give-and-go with Sergio Busquets, then came through four challenges before slotting into the net with his right foot to seal a 2-0 victory. Josep Guardiola warned that his side were "not at Wembley yet", but a 1-1 result in the return fixture sealed the Catalan giants' place in the final.

THE FREE-KICK – FC Dynamo Kyiv 1-2 FC Barcelona, 10/12/2009
In the final game of the 2009/10 group stage, Barcelona had been stunned by a second minute goal from Artem Milevskiy, but pulled level through Xavi. With the match seemingly destined to end in a draw, Messi stepped up with four minutes to go, brilliantly curling the ball over the wall and in off the underside of Olexandr Shovkovskiy's crossbar to seal top spot in Group F for the Blaugrana.

THE HAT-TRICK  FC Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal FC, 06/04/2010
The only player to have scored four UEFA Champions League hat-ticks, Messi's first treble came on a night when he scored all four of Barcelona's goals as they eased into the semi-finals for the third year running. His first was fired into the top corner from the edge of the box, his second was a wonderful team effort and the third a sublime chip over the onrushing Manuel Almunia after a run through on goal. Just 22 minutes separated his first from his third goal, with the fourth coming from close range two minutes from time.

THE MASTER CLASS  FC Barcelona 4-0 AFC Ajax, 18/08/2013
It takes a special free-kick to beat a goalkeeper at his near post. Standing 25 metres from goal, Messi hit a curling effort that bent back in to strike the inside of the post and beat Kenneth Vermeer, giving the Blaugrana the lead at Camp Nou. He added another after the interval, having rounded defender Stefano Denswil. A slide-rule finish into the bottom corner  from a deft Xavi assist  sealed a brilliant hat-trick.

Fastest to 50 UEFA Champions League goals
Ruud van Nistelrooy – 62 games
Lionel Messi – 66 games
Cristiano Ronaldo – 91 games
Raúl González – 97 games
Thierry Henry – 103 games

UEFA Champions League all-time leading scorers
Raúl González – 71 (142 games)
Cristiano Ronaldo – 70 (106)
Lionel Messi – 69 (89)
Ruud van Nistelrooy – 56 (73)
Thierry Henry – 50 (112)

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