The Champions League made its eagerly anticipated return on Tuesday night with the introduction of two brand new early kick-offs (5.55pm), which included Barcelona’s opening Group B clash against Dutch outfit PSV at the Nou Camp.
We then had to wait only 31 minutes for the opening goal of the new 2018/19 Champions League campaign, and the identity of the goalscorer surprised absolutely no one: Lionel Messi.
Messi’s teammate Ousmane Dembele was hauled down by defender Nick Viergever about a yard outside the central part of penalty area (just outside the D), roughly 25 yards out.
Up stepped none other than Messi, who took a couple of glances goalwards, then unleashed an absolute beauty of curler past the fully stretched arms of helpless goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet and into right-hand corner of the net.
Another one to add to the collection, with the PSV striker remarkably the Argentine’s eighth free-kick of the year!
The goal also meant that Messi has now joined Ryan Giggs and Raul in scoring in a whopping 14 Champions League seasons, with Man Utd legend Giggs scoring in a record 16 campaigns of Europe's elite competition, while Spaniard Raul ended his career with goals in 15 separate seasons.
Barcelona skipper Messi will be hoping he can go on to inspire the Catalan club through a tough group which also contains Tottenham and Inter Milan, then eventually on to glory as he bids to lift the coveted trophy for the fifth time in his astonishing career to date.
Free-kick.
25 yards out...
Top corner 🎯
We really are running out of words to describe this man!
