The only four clubs Lionel Messi never scored against in the Champions League
Lionel Messi boasts a legendary goalscoring record in the Champions League. Only Cristiano Ronaldo can better his tally of 129 goals in the competition.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner had a particularly prolific record against top European clubs including Arsenal, AC Milan, Manchester City, PSG, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
But there’s an exclusive club of just four clubs that came up against Messi and kept him at bay in the Champions League. We’ve run through them for you here.
Rubin Kazan
Messi would routinely fill his boots against the relative minnows that Barcelona faced in the Champions League group stages, but he uncharacteristically failed to find the back of the net in four appearances against Russian side Rubin Kazan when he was at the peak of his goalscoring powers in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering juggernaut were the reigning champions and eventually reached the semi-finals in 2009-10, but they unthinkably took just one point from Rubin Kazan that year, losing 2-1 at the Camp Nou before a goalless draw in Tatarstan. Their talisman played every minute against them but failed to score or assist.
The following season they once again drew away before a routine 2-0 win on home soil. Messi once again didn’t contribute directly, but he was introduced off the bench at the hour mark on each occasion.
That year he notched 12 goals in the competition, scoring against every other team, as Barcelona got their hands on the trophy once again.
Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid shipped 32 goals to Messi over the years, but they kept him at bay en route to the Champions League finals of 2014 and 2016.
The Argentinian played all 360 minutes of Barca’s two double-legged knockout clashes with Diego Simeone’s grizzled side but couldn’t breach their well-drilled backline.
La Blaugrana lost 2-1 on aggregate in the 2013-14 quarter-finals and 3-2 at the same stage in 2015-16, with defeats to nil at the old Vicente Calderon costly on each occasion.
It was also during that era that Atleti clinched the La Liga title on Barcelona’s patch, grinding out a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou on the final day of the 2013-14 campaign. Messi assisted Alexis Sanchez that afternoon but couldn’t inspire Barca to the three points they needed.
Inter
Now we’re onto the (in)famous one.
Everybody remembers Jose Mourinho’s side producing a low-block masterclass to deny Messi and his team-mates in the 2010-11 semi-finals. Barcelona actually won that second leg 1-0 at the Camp Nou but couldn’t reduce the two-goal deficit from the first-leg 3-1 San Siro loss. Pedro and makeshift centre-forward Gerard Pique got the goals in their aggregate defeat.
Earlier that season, Messi featured in a 0-0 group stage visit to the San Siro before sitting out the return fixture on the bench.
A forearm fracture kept Messi out of Barca’s two group-stage meetings with the Nerazzuri in 2018-19.
He faced them for a final time in the 2019-20 group stage, assisting Luis Suarez in a 2-1 win at the Camp Nou before sitting out the return match.
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Udinese
The other three teams on this list Messi faced four times in Europe, but he only came up against Udinese once.
He was still a teenager when Barcelona faced the Serie A outfit in the 2005-06 group stage, playing 70 minutes of a routine 4-1 victory at the Camp Nou. Ronaldinho scored a hat-trick that night and Deco got the other with a well-placed free-kick.
Barca won the return fixture 2-0 in Udinese but Messi was an unused substitute that night.