LIONEL MESSI has well and truly come back to haunt Pep Guardiola – with a record seven goals against his old boss.
The Argentine hero, 34, broke his Paris Saint-Germain duck on Tuesday night with a stunning finish against Manchester City.
He linked up expertly with Kylian Mbappe before curling a fine effort beyond Ederson into the top corner on 74 minutes.
As well as sealing a 2-0 Champions League win for his new club, it took his tally against Guardiola to seven.
And that is more goals than anyone else has managed against the former Barca manager in the competition.
Two of those came while Guardiola was at Bayern Munich – a double in a 3-0 Barca win in May 2015.
The remaining five are against the Citizens.
Messi smashed in a hat-trick at the Nou Camp in October 2016 as part of a 4-0 victory – the first treble any player had scored against a Guardiola team – and then scored in the reverse tie, a 3-1 defeat, the following month.
JOIN SUN VEGAS: GET A FREE £10 BONUS WITH 100s OF GAMES TO PLAY AND NO DEPOSIT REQUIRED (Ts&Cs apply)
His other two goals against City in the Champions League came in the last 16 in 2014 with a strike in both legs when Manuel Pellegrini was Etihad chief.
Messi played under Guardiola for four seasons at Barcelona between 2008 and 2012, winning three LaLigas and the Champions League twice.
In that time, the superstar forward also managed a bonkers 211 goals in 219 games.
No wonder Guardiola was desperate to bring Messi to the Etihad when his contract at Barcelona ran out this summer.
PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino, on the receiving end of Messi’s goals down the years, said on Tuesday: “Usually I don’t celebrate goals, but today I did.
“I’ve spent 20 years watching him score goals from the other side of the opposite pavement and it’s the first time he scores for a team I manage so I had to celebrate.”
However, while Messi has seven goals against Guardiola, Jamie Vardy has nine against the Spaniard.
No player has scored more against City since Pep took over in 2016 than the Leicester talisman.
Although his have been spread across the Premier League and League Cup – but do include two hat-tricks to surpass Messi’s tally of one.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
