Lionel Messi breaks Champions League record: 'He's the greatest player of all time,' says Barca coach
Messi's hat-trick brought his tally to a record-breaking 74
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Lionel Messi was hailed as the best player ever by Barcelona coach Luis Enrique after setting a Champions League scoring record of 74 goals with a hat-trick in Tuesday's 4-0 win at APOEL Nicosia.
"Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, football is the king of sports and he will continue to surprise everyone for a long time," Luis Enrique said after Messi broke Raul's record of 71 goals.
He was also full of praise for Messi's fellow forward Luis Suarez who opened his account for Barcelona in the Group F match following his close season move from Liverpool.
"Suarez will score many more goals and he is a player who contributes much more than goals to the team," said Luis Enrique.
Barca struggled to beat lowly Almeria in La Liga earlier this month and Luis Enrique was asked why his team had improved with a 5-1 win over Sevilla on Saturday and Tuesday's result.
"Changes in performance are expected throughout the season and the next job is to prepare the team for a difficult game against Valencia following a good victory over difficult opposition who haven't conceded a lot of goals in this competition," he said.
APOEL coach Giorgos Donis heaped praise on Barcelona and record-breaking forward Messi, telling reporters the Spanish side were on "another level".
"He is a phenomenon and can do incredible things with a football," Donis said of Messi.
But the German-born Greek coach was bullish about his team's chances of beating Ajax Amsterdam away in their final group game to qualify for the Europa League. APOEL are bottom with one point behind the Dutch side who have two points.
"It's very difficult to win away from home in the Champions League but the players will fight until the last minute for the win," he said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments