NEW DELHI: India captain Sunil Chhetri was all praise for Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi after the Argentine turned it on once again in the UEFA Champions League to help his side stroll past Napoli in their Round of 16 fixture.
"Messi," tweeted Chhetri with three folded hands emojis right after the Barcelona captain scored an outrageous goal in the 23rd minute to make it 3-1 in his team's favour. "Stayed late after ages to watch live football - completely worth," he tweeted later.
The second leg that was played at Camp Nou started at 1-1 with Barca having the away goal advantage. Defender Clement Lenglet took advantage of some poor marking to head in from Ivan Rakitic's corner and gave Barcelona the outright lead.
Messi in the 23rd minute got the ball in the right hand corner of Napoli's penalty area, wriggled past three defenders and then lost his balance for a moment. He however picked himself up and managed to curl the ball into the far corner. He doubled their lead seven minutes later but the goal was disallowed by VAR.
Luis Suarez made it 3-1 on the night with a penalty while Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back for Napoli with another penalty. Both goals came in stoppage time of the first half as the second half was goalless. IANS
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