Lionel Messi’s failure to find the net against Milan last night continued an unusual scoring record against Italian opposition.
The Argentine struggled to effect play at all for La Blaugrana in Wednesday evening’s 2-0 defeat at San Siro, in the first leg of their Champions League Last 16 clash.
Messi has continued to break all sorts of records for Barcelona, last weekend surpassing 300 goals in all competitions, as well as extending his consecutive League game scoring record to 14. However, when facing Italian opposition, the 25-year-old has struggled.
Yesterday’s blank extended his relatively poor return against teams from Serie A to three goals from nine games. Those three goals also all came from the penalty spot against Milan, all last season, meaning that he has yet to score from open play against an Italian team.
Messi has faced Milan, Inter and Udinese in his career without scoring in open play.
