Messi moves in on scoring milestone

Lionel Messi seems certain to finish on top of the scoring charts for the third successive season after his two goals against Real Madrid CF moved the FC Barcelona forward on to 11 in the UEFA Champions League this term.

The Argentinian's close-range finish in the 76th minute made him the first player since AC Milan's Kaká in 2006/07 to reach double figures in the competition. His 11th three minutes from time, a wonderful individual effort, leaves Messi in sight of Ruud van Nistelrooy's UEFA Champions League record haul of 12 goals for Manchester United FC in 2002/03.

The Dutchman has been the leading scorer in the competition on two other occasions (2001/02, ten goals; 2004/05, eight goals), although Messi is set to become only the third player after Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin to finish first in three successive campaigns.

The German great was the leading marksman for FC Bayern München in 1972/73 (11 goals), 1973/74 (eight) and 1974/75 (five, joint with FC Ararat Yerevan's Eduard Markarov). Müller was also the five-goal joint-top scorer in 1976/77, making him the only player to reach the milestone on four occasions.

Olympique de Marseille forward Papin never finished as the outright top scorer, his three season-leading tallies in 1989/90, 1990/91 and 1991/92 respectively shared with Romário (PSV Eindhoven, six goals), Peter Pacult
(FC Tirol Innsbruck, six) and Sergei Yuran (SL Benfica, seven).

Eusébio was also the leading marksman three times,  1964/65, 1965/66 and 1967/68, while Milan's José Altafini holds the record for the highest number of goals scored in a European Champion Clubs' Cup campaign, 14 in 1962/63.