Messi makes more Barca history

Barcelona kick-started the defence of their Champions League crown by roundly thumping BATE Borisov away as Lionel Messi scored twice in a 5-0 win to further cement his place in the history of the Catalan club.

Messi scored either side of half-time on a rainy evening to take his overall tally for the club to 194 goals and move level with Hungary legend Ladislao Kubala in second place in Barca’s all-time list of leading scorers.

Only Cesar Rodriguez – who scored 235 goals in the post-Civil War era – is still ahead of Messi, but the little Argentine seems certain to eclipse even him in the not-too-distant future.

Neither Messi nor his team-mates needed to be at their very best, though, as Pep Guardiola’s side utterly outclassed the Belarus league leaders at the Dinamo Stadium to record their first win in Group H following a frustrating draw with Milan a fortnight ago.

At the San Siro, Zlatan Ibrahimovic starred on his comeback from injury as he inspired Milan to a 2-0 victory over Viktoria Plzen to keep them on Barcleona’s heels.

The big Swede came straight back into the team following two weeks out with a groin strain and scored a penalty before setting up Antonio Cassano to make it 2-0.

That was Milan’s 2,000th goal since Italy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bought the club in 1986.

Marseille put their domestic struggles to one side with a timely 3-0 win at home to German champions Borussia Dortmund that put them in charge of Group F.

A 20-yard strike from Andre Ayew gave the hosts a 1-0 half-time lead and they survived a Dortmund rally to prevail after a composed Loic Remy finish and a second goal for Ayew.

Victory kept OM two points clear of Arsenal in the group, ahead of the double-header against Arsene Wenger’s side that starts with a home game on October 19.

The only source of regret for Marseille was an injury-time red card for substitute Jordan Ayew, who was shown a second yellow card.

Chaotic Gunners

Arsenal survived a chaotic defensive display to secure a 2-1 win over Olympiakos as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain announced his arrival on the Champions League stage with a fine goal.

Arsene Wenger paid £10 million to sign Oxlade-Chamberlain from Southampton during the close-season even though the 18-year-old winger had only a year’s experience in League One on his CV.

But Oxlade-Chamberlain showed no signs of being overawed as he marked his Champions League debut with a cool strike early in the first half.

Andre Santos’s first goal for Arsenal should have finished off Olympiakos but David Fuster got one back for the Greeks as the Gunners’ defence went into meltdown.

Only the woodwork and some excellent stops from Wojciech Szczesny prevented Olympiakos from snatching a draw.

Elsewhere, Andre Villas-Boas’s recall of Frank Lampard was totally vindicated but the Chelsea manager’s decision to substitute him backfired spectacularly as Valencia snatched a draw in a clash at the Mestalla.

Lampard looked to have scored a trademark winner that would have put the visitors in complete command of Group E but Villas-Boas brought him off for Salomon Kalou with seven minutes remaining and the new man immediately conceded a penalty.

Roberto Soldado scored, with Chelsea’s frustrations boiling over at the final whistle after what was a missed opportunity.

Also from Group E, former Chelsea midfielder Michael Ballack came off the bench to seal Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Belgian champions Genk.

Having gone down 2-0 to Chelsea a fortnight ago, Leverkusen picked themselves up from the defeat with midfielder Lars Bender scoring the opener in the first half.

Ballack, who turns 35 on Monday, netted the second in added time to claim his first goal in more than 18 months, having spent much of this season on the bench due to the after-effects of back-to-back injuries in 2010.

This was Genk’s first defeat of the season in any competition, after they held Valencia to a goalless draw at home a fortnight ago in their Champions League opener.

Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg battled back from a goal down to record a 3-1 win against ten-man Porto in a Group G clash earlier in the evening.

Midfielder Roman Shirokov was the hero for the hosts, scoring twice, while Portuguese international Danny also netted for Luciano Spalletti’s side.

Summaries

Valencia 1
Soldado 87p;
Chelsea 1
Lampard 56;

B. Leverkusen 2
Bender 30; Ballack 90;
Genk 0

Arsenal 2
Chamberlain 8; Santos 20;
Olympiakos 1
Fuster 27;

Marseille 3
Ayew 20, 69p; Remy 62;
B. Dortmund 0

Red card: Ayew (M) 90.

Zenit SP 3
Shirokov 20, 63; Danny 72;
Porto 1
Rodriguez 10;

Red card: Fucile (P) 45.

S. Donetsk 1
Jadson 64;
Apoel 1
Trickovski 61;

BATE Borisov 0
Barcelona 5
Volodko 19 og; Pedro 22; Messi 38, 56; Villa 90;

Milan 2
Ibrahimovic 53p; Cassano 66;
Vik. Plzen 0

Group E

Chelsea vs B. Leverkusen - 2-0
Genk vs Valencia - 0-0
Valencia vs Chelsea - 1-1
B. Leverkusen vs Genk - 2-0
19/10/11: B. Leverkusen vs Valencia
19/10/11: Chelsea vs Genk
01/11/11: Valencia vs B. Leverkusen
01/11/11: Genk vs Chelsea
23/11/11: B. Leverkusen vs Chelsea
23/11/11: Valencia vs Genk
06/12/11: Chelsea vs Valencia
06/12/11: Genk vs B. Leverkusen

Group F

Olympiakos vs Marseille - 0-1
Bor. Dortmund vs Arsenal - 1-1
Arsenal vs Olympiakos - 2-1
Marseille vs Bor. Dortmund - 3-0
19/10/11: Marseille vs Arsenal
19/10/11: Olympiakos vs Bor. Dortmund
01/11/11: Arsenal vs Marseille
01/11/11: Bor. Dortmund vs Olympiakos
23/11/11: Arsenal vs Bor. Dortmund
23/11/11: Marseille vs Olympiakos
06/12/11: Olympiakos vs Arsenal
06/12/11: Bor. Dortmund vs Marseille

Group G

Porto vs S. Donetsk - 2-1
Apoel vs Zenit SP - 2-1
Zenit SP vs Porto - 3-1
S. Donetsk vs Apoel - 1-1
19/10/11: S. Donetsk vs Zenit SP
19/10/11: Porto vs Apoel
01/11/11: Zenit SP vs S. Donetsk
01/11/11: Apoel vs Porto
23/11/11: S. Donetsk vs Porto
23/11/11: Zenit SP vs Apoel
06/12/11: Porto vs Zenit SP
06/12/11: Apoel vs S. Donetsk

Group H

Barcelona vs Milan - 2-2
Vik. Plzen vs Bate Borisov - 1-1
Bate Borisov vs Barcelona - 0-5
Milan vs Vik. Plzen - 2-0
19/10/11: Milan vs Bate Borisov
19/10/11: Barcelona vs Vik. Plzen
01/11/11: Bate Borisov vs Milan
01/11/11: Vik. Plzen vs Barcelona
23/11/11: Milan vs Barcelona
23/11/11: Bate Borisov vs Vik. Plzen
06/12/11: Barcelona vs Bate Borisov
06/12/11: Vik. Plzen vs Milan