Lionel Messi has become the all-time leading scorer in the UEFA Champions League after scoring a hat-trick for Barcelona on Tuesday night.
The Argentine maestro took his tally in Europe's premier club competition to 74 goals with a treble in the 4-0 victory over Cypriot club APOEL Nicosia, surpassing Raul's former record of 71 goals.
The hat-trick was Messi's fifth in the Champions League, also a record, and helped the Catalan giants record their fourth victory in Group F which has them sitting second behind French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
On a dramatic night in Europe, Sergio Aguero produced his own trio of goals as Manchester City came from behind to down ten-man Bayern Munich 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium.
Messi's Argentina teammate opened the scoring for Manuel Pellegrini's side when beating Manuel Neuer from the penalty spot in the 21st minute after Mehdi Benatia was sent off for a challenge on him.
Despite having one player less, Pep Guardiola's went into the half-time break with a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Xabi Alonso - a low free-kick from outside the area - and Robert Lewandowski who pulled off a classy looping header just before the break.
Just as it appeared as the Bavarian behemoth would grab their fifth win of the group stage campaign, City hit on the break in the 85th minute with Stevan Jovetic feeding Aguero who advanced into the area before slotting across Neuer with his left foot.
The City striker then dispossessed Jerome Boateng in injury-time to produce a theatrical winner which has the reigning Premier League champions sitting equal second on the Group E table with Roma and CSKA Moscow on five points after their 1-1 draw in Russia while Bayern sit seven clear on top.
In Group G, Chelsea secured top spot with a clinical 5-0 victory over Schalke in Gelsenkirchen to continue their brilliant start to the campaign.
Elsewhere, Edinson Cavani scored twice to lead PSG to a 3-1 home win over Ajax, FC Porto easily accounted for BATE Borisov 3-0 in Belarus to remain top of Group H ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk who had already qualified for the next stage despite a 1-0 home defeat to Athletic Bilbao.
And in the other Group G fixture, Sporting Lisbon moved to second with a 3-1 triumph over NK Maribor in Portugal.
Tomorrow's match-ups include Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund at the Emirates, FC Basel v Real Madrid in Switzerland and Ludogorets Razgrad v Liverpool in Sofia.
2014/15 UEFA Champions League - group stage scores
Group E
CSKA Moscow (RUS): 1 (Vasili Berezutski 90+3') AS Roma (ITA): 1 (Francesco Totti 43') Arena Khimki, Khimki, Russia - 0
Manchester City (ENG): 3 (Sergio Aguero (p) 21'/85'/90+1') Bayern Munich (GER): 2 (Xabi Alonso 40', Robert Lewandowski 45', red card: Mehdi Benatia 20') Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England - 47,726
Group F
APOEL Nicosia (CYP): 0 (red card: Joao Guilherme 84') Barcelona (SPN): 4 (Luis Suarez 27', Lionel Messi 38'/58'/87', red card: Rafinha 70') GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus - 22,000
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA): 3 (Edinson Cavani 33'/83', Zlatan Ibrahimovic 78') Ajax (NED): 1 (Davy Klaassen 67') Parc des Princes, Paris, France - 45,000
Group G
Schalke (GER): 0 Chelsea (ENG): 5 (John Terry 2', Willian 29', Jan Kirchhoff (og) 44', Didier Drogba 76', Ramires 78') Veltins-Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Germany - 46,500
Sporting Lisbon (POR): 3 (Carlos Mane 10', Nani 35', Islam Slimani 65') NK Maribor (SVN): 1 (Jefferson (og) 42') Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal - 33,000
Group H
BATE Borisov (BLR): 0 FC Porto (POR): 3 (Hector Herrera 56', Jackson Martinez 65', Cristian Tello 89') Borisov Arena, Borisov, Belarus - 12,000
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR): 0 Athletic Bilbao (SPN): 1 (Mikel San Jose 68') Arena Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine - 30,000
