Barcelona hopes on Messi to inspire fightback

[Folami David]

Lionel Messi has often said personal accolades are secondary to the fortunes of the team and Barcelona's Argentina forward would probably swap all four of his World Player of the Year awards for a comeback success against AC Milan on Tuesday.
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Barca's hopes of a third Champions League crown in five years are hanging by a thread after Milan surprised them 2-0 at the San Siro in last month's last-16, first leg.
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If the pre-tournament favourites are to get past the Serie A side into the quarterfinals, Messi will surely have to be on song.
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He and his teammates will also need to reverse a slump in key games after they were beaten twice in five days by arch rivals Real Madrid following the reverse in Italy.
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Messi, well shackled by Milan in the first leg, claimed another record on Saturday when he came off the bench and scored for a 17th consecutive La Liga game in a 2-0 victory for the leaders at home to bottom side Deportivo La Coruna.
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Barca said he had set a new world best by surpassing Polish forward Teodor Pewterek, scorer of 22 goals in 16 straight outings for Ruch Chorzow at the end of the 1930s.
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Messi has netted 27 on his prolific run.
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Some have questioned his form of late but it was his 40th goal of the La Liga campaign and his 51st in 41 appearances in all competitions, including five in the Champions League.
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He is the top scorer in Europe's elite club competition the past four seasons.
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Producing the goods on the biggest occasions is what counts, though, and the 25-year-old has been overshadowed in recent weeks by Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
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The Portuguese scored the goal against his former club Manchester United on Tuesday that sent Real through to the Champions League last eight and netted twice to help eliminate Barca from the King's Cup at the end of last month.

[Shola Sholaz]

They should nt even try to put all their hopes on Messi. It should be a team victory