Messi breaks record, Suarez breaks duck

Barca romped to a 4-0 win at APOEL Nicosia but that fact was overshadowed by Messi and Suarez’s personal achievements.

Messi came into the match level with Spaniard Raul on 71 Champions League goals but he stabbed home from close range on 37 minutes to take sole possession of the record.

He went on to notch a hat-trick on the night as Barcelona remained a point behind Paris Saint-Germain at the top of Group F after the French team beat Ajax 3-1 thanks to an Edinson Cavani brace and one from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Both sides have already qualified for the knock-out rounds and top spot will be decided in two weeks time at the Camp Nou.

Messi’s feat came just four days after the four-time World Player of the Year broke Telmo Zarra’s 59-year-old record of 251 La Liga goals with a hat-trick in a 5-1 thrashing of Sevilla to take his tally in the Spanish top flight to 253 goals in 289 appearances.

Just 10 minutes before that, Suarez, who moved from Liverpool in the close season, had finally notched his first goal — a brilliant solo effort — for the Catalans in his fifth appearance since making his debut in a 3-1 loss to Real Madrid on October 25.

– Aguero the saviour –

Elsewhere, Manchester City kept their qualification hopes alive as Sergio Aguero completed a hat-trick in stoppage time to give the English champions a 3-2 win over 10-man Bayern Munich.

City were five minutes from defeat against a side that had outplayed them throughout the game, whether playing with 10 or 11 players.

Aguero gave the hosts the lead from the penalty spot after centre-back Mehdi Benatia had been dismissed for bringing him down in the box as the last man.

But Bayern still went into the break in front with two goals in the final five minutes of the half, first through Xabi Alonso’s free-kick and then as Robert Lewandowski outjumped Vincent Kompany and Bakary Sagna to head home a deep right-wing cross.

City toiled in the second period as the Germans dominated the ball, until Stevan Jovetic cut out Alonso’s misplaced pass to send Aguero away to equalise five minutes from the finish.

The Spaniard then popped up a minute into stoppage time to pounce on a mistake by former City defender Jerome Boateng to complete his hat-trick.

It left City level on points with Roma and CSKA Moscow going into the last round of matches, with the English side travelling to the Italian capital and the Russians away in Bavaria.

On a day of records, Roma stalwart Francesco Totti extended his mark as oldest scorer in the Champions League by opening the scoring in his side’s 1-1 draw at CSKA.

At 38 years, one month and 29 days, his 43rd minute goal saw him extend the record he previously set in September when netting in a 1-1 draw at Manchester City to break a three-year-old mark set by former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs.

But Vasily Berezutsky’s equaliser 17-seconds from the end of time-added-on kept the Russians in the race for the knock-out stages and sets up a thrilling final round of matches.

– Easy for Chelsea –

Chelsea romped to a 5-0 win at Schalke 04 to not only secure a place in the second round but also ensure they will win Group G.

Captain John Terry opened the scoring with a header from a corner before Brazilian Willian finished off a sublime team move with a crisp finish that had even some German fans applauding.

They certainly weren’t doing that on the killer third goal, though, as Jan Kirchhoff headed past his own goalkeeper from a corner despite there not being a Chelsea player in sight.

And all that was before halftime.

Two goals in two second half minutes from substitutes Didier Drogba and Ramires completed a thoroughly miserable evening for the Germans.

In Group H Shakhtar Donetsk booked their place in the knock-out rounds despite losing 1-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao.

That was because Porto, who have won the group, cruised to a 3-0 win at BATE Borisov, who have now let in 22 goals, equalling the record number of goals conceded in the group stages, although they still have a match to go and could surpass the totals let in by Dinamo Zagreb in 2011/12 and Nordsjaelland a year later- AFP