Lionel Messi breaks all-time Champions League goal-scoring record

FC Barcelona`s Lionel Messi has set a historic record in the UEFA Champions League. He scored a hat trick in the club`s Group F match against Apoel in Nicosia, Cyprus on Tuesday (local time). Barcelona won 4-0.

The three goals were his 72nd, 73rd and 74th in the Champions League. Messi set a new goal-scoring record in the league. The previous record of 71 had been set by former Real Madrid and Schalke striker Raul Gonzalez.

Gonzalez had 71 goals over the course of 142 matches, or 0.5 goal per game, while Messi`s tally of 74 goals in 91 games is equivalent to an average of 0.81 goal per match.

"I am happy for having achieved such a nice record in a competition of this importance," Messi said after the game.

Early in the season, few experts expected that the 27-year-old would break Gonzalez`s record faster than rival Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, as the latter overwhelmed Messi. Ronaldo scored 20 goals in 11 games in Spain`s Primera Liga and a career total of 70 Champions League goals.

Messi has scored 10 goals in 12 games in the Primera Liga. On Sunday, he set the Spanish league`s career goal record of 253 before breaking the Champions League record.

He already possesses the Primera Liga`s season goal record of 50, the Champions League`s one-game goal record of five, most consecutive league matches scored (21 games) and most goals in a calendar year of 91.

ESPN and other foreign media attribute Messi`s stellar performances to the existence of Ronaldo, saying that the competition with the latter, called the world`s best scorer, kept Messi doing his best.

In addition, Messi is assisted by some of the world`s top-class teammates such as Neymar and Luis Suárez. Josep "Pep" Guardiola, manager of the Bayern Munich who led Barcelona`s heydays, said Messi`s record will last for 600 years.