When Lionel Messi stepped up to take a 94th minute penalty at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, he not only had a fantastic opportunity to put the tie even further beyond doubt than it already looked, but also to draw level at the top of this season’s Champions League top scorers chart and thereby extend his lead ahead of perennial adversary Cristiano Ronaldo both this season and in the all-time standings.
And yet, the best player of his generation contrived to pass up this chance, allowing Joe Hart to make a fairly comfortable save before inexplicably missing a gaping open goal with a routine header from just a few yards.
The margins between Messi and Ronaldo are so fine in their quest to be the world’s number one footballer that every goal matters, and Messi’s misses will only have fuelled the naysayers who insist he has fallen behind Ronaldo.
This particular one may not prove costly over the course of this two-legged tie, but the Real Madrid winger could certainly overtake Messi in the individual stakes before the season’s end. Incredibly, the duo have won the Champions League top scorer award in each of the last seven seasons; Messi currently leads Ronaldo in this regard by four awards to three. Ronaldo will be keen to level things up this year.
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