The latest round of Champions League action saw Messi break more records while his former club once again bowed out at the group stage.
What a round of Champions League action!
Even by the tournament's ridiculously high standards, matchday five was outrageously dramatic.
Indeed, the late, VAR-fuelled drama at both Tottenham and Atletico Madrid was almost too much to take, certainly for Antonio Conte and Diego Simeone.
This week also saw two high-profile exits, with both Barcelona and Juventus sent spiralling into the Europa League after suffering chastening defeats.
Bayern maintained their 100 per cent winning record by silencing Camp Nou, while Napoli are also five from five thanks to a predictably straightforward win over Rangers.
Below, GOAL runs through the big winners and losers from two sensational evenings…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi didn't want to leave Barcelona. Sergio Aguero revealed earlier this week that his fellow Argentine was so excited about extending his stay at Camp Nou that he kept asking him to take pictures of him with a Barca shirt.
However, while leaving may have been extremely painful for Messi, it's now looking like a blessing in disguise.
Before his exit, Barca hadn't played in the Europa League since 2004. Now, they're bracing themselves for a second successive campaign.
Messi, meanwhile, is back to something resembling his mesmeric best after a trying first season at Paris Saint-Germain.
On Tuesday night, in a 7-2 rout of Maccabi Haifa in which he combined sensationally with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, the 35-year-old became the oldest player to both score and create two goals in the same Champions League.
In doing so, he also scored his 23rd goal from outside the area, thus taking outright possession of a record he had previously shared with Cristiano Ronaldo, who, like Barcelona, is now in the Europa League…
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Super League clubs
It's not been a good week for the three remaining European Super League (ESL) rebels, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus all beaten.
Of course, Madrid will be fine. A home win over Celtic in their final group game will see them progress to the last 16 among the top seeds, and nobody would bet against the reigning champions going on to win a tournament they rather bizarrely remain intent on destroying.
Barca and Juve's motivations are obvious, though. While the current Champions League format has its flaws, and is still weighted too heavily in favour of the richest teams, the group stage does at least punish consistently poor performances, which is why both Barca and Juve, two specialists in failure, favour a closed competition.
Their respective presidents, Joan Laporta and Andrea Agnelli, are adamant that an ESL is essential for the survival of European football. But it's a little more difficult to argue that you're acting in everyone's interests when you're suffering such heavy losses, on and off the field.
Recklessly run clubs like Barca and Juve deserve to be punished for their failings and shouldn't be bailed out by an ESL while less illustrious rivals are practicing prudence.
The economic imbalance in European football certainly has to be addressed, along with the uneven distribution of prize money from continental competition and the inflated transfer market caused by colossal TV rights deals and oil money.
Indeed, there's no denying that reform is essential. The European game has many problems. But a Super League isn't the solution to any of them.
Only on-field results should determine which clubs secure entry to certain competitions and this week has hammered home that neither Barca nor Juve deserve to be in the Champions League – let alone a Super League.
GettyWINNER: The Europa League
It wasn't long before fake Europa League accounts appeared on Twitter to welcome back Barcelona. They were lame attempts at humour but there's no denying that the demotion of such a high-profile club, with a massive global following, is a huge boost for the much-maligned second-tier tournament.
And it's not only Barcelona who will be dropping down after this season's group stage.
Serial winners Sevilla are also on their way, with Juventus, Ajax and Atletico Madrid likely to follow.
When one considers that Arsenal, Manchester United, Betis and several other quality sides will be lying in wait, we look set for a cracking knockout stage in this season's Europa League.
Indeed, Barca could experience as much difficulty in trying to win the competition as they did last season…
Getty ImagesLOSER: La Liga
For the first time since the 1998-99 edition of the Champions League, La Liga will have just one representative in the knockout stage. And, once again, it's Real Madrid.
Sevilla will quite rightly claim that they were placed in a tough group, alongside Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund. And the Europa League has long felt like their natural habitat anyway. The Andalusians will already be eyeing a record-extending seventh title.
However, it is extremely concerning for the Spanish game that Barcelona are in danger of becoming Europa League regulars, having been relegated to Europe's 'second division' for the second year in a row.
Granted, they too were given a tough draw, with Bayern Munich and Inter for company in Group C, but the way in which the second-best team in Spain performed against both did not reflect well on the current strength of La Liga.
Indeed, the issue was even raised with Barca boss Xavi at the weekend, after his side coasted to victory over Athletic Club just a few days after easing past Villarreal. Xavi insisted that the Primera Division is actually stronger, and more competitive, than its been in years.
But Atletico Madrid, who are third in La Liga but already eight points behind Real, made a mockery of that claim by being knocked out of the Champions League on matchday five – despite being in a group with Porto, Club Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen.
Those are all decent sides in their own right – the Belgians have been the tournament's surprise package this season – but they would have been easily beaten by the Atleti sides that reached the final in 2014 and 2016. The suspicion is that it's not just Diego Simeone's side that are in decline.
Real Madrid remain the kings of Europe and Spain still ranks second in UEFA's club coefficients but there are worrying signs that La Liga is losing its lustre.
