These days, there aren’t many records left for Leo Messi to beat! But he found another on Wednesday by becoming the joint highest goalscorer in the 51 year history of the Joan Gamper Trophy.
His two goals against Sampdoria tie him with Asensi, Stoichkov and Beguiristain at the top of the chart with seven goals since his spectacular debut in the competition against Juventus in 2005, hailed as the night when the Argentinian’s truly made his breakthrough onto the world stage.
Particularly in the first half, Messi was in class form in the 2016 edition. He provided a stunning overhead assist to set Luis Suárez up for the first goal, and shortly it was he himself who scored after collecting a pass from Rakitic and rounding the opposing keeper in style. To top off a night with which he was the only choice for the MVP award, Messi rifled home a long range free kick to seal Barça’s third goal of the evening.
