Anything Ronaldo can do, Messi can do too

BARCELONA — Lionel Messi ensured that Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 6-1 demolition of Galatasaray on Tuesday would not be the main talking point of the first round of Champions League group stages matches when the Argentine scored three of his own in Barcelona’s 4-0 thrashing of Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday (yesterday morning, Singapore time).

While Ronaldo’s hat-trick was his second in the Champions League, Messi’s haul in the Group H win at the Nou Camp was his fourth.

Whether or not Messi had been motivated by Ronaldo’s feat is debatable, but it is clear that the game of one-upmanship between the best players at Spain’s two biggest clubs shows no sign of coming to an end.

Both have been smashing records with breathtaking speed and are closing in on more.

Messi, 26, took his overall goals tally in Europe’s elite club competition to 62, and is now only nine short of Raul’s all-time scoring record of 71.

Ronaldo, 28, is hard on his heels with 54.

True to form, Messi opted to focus on the team’s display instead of himself after the game.

“We found it tough to pressure them initially because they were moving the ball well out from the back. But I think, in general, it was a great performance,” he said.

Although he did not score a hat-trick, Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey also stood out on Wednesday by scoring in the Gunners’ 2-1 Group F away win over Marseille. It was the Welsh midfielder’s sixth goal in seven games and helped the club to make it six wins in all competitions following their 3-1 league defeat by Aston Villa.

It prompted manager Arsene Wenger to pay tribute to the 22-year-old, who had scored only five times in 91 appearances across the previous two seasons.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect him to score so many goals,” said Wenger. “He’s especially improved in his passing, his technical quality.”

There were doubts as to whether Ramsey would be able to perform at the highest level again after breaking his leg at Stoke in 2010, but Wenger said he always took a long-term view with him. “You never know if he will come completely back. But when you are injured before 20, you come back to your normal level and improve like you have not been injured,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho’s pre-game description of his Chelsea players as “beautiful, young eggs” came back to haunt him as English newspapers dredged up a wealth of egg-related puns to mock his team’s shock 2-1 defeat to Basel in their Champions League Group E game.

“Mourinho has egg on his face” and “Mourinho shell-shocked” appeared in more than one paper as the media heaped blame on the Portuguese manager for Chelsea’s first home defeat in the Champions League group stages in 30 matches.

Mourinho was not smiling when the 2012 European champions were booed off the pitch at Stamford Bridge, but he did not blame his players. “When we lose, I’m responsible,” he said, adding that he was confident that Chelsea will still advance to the knockout stages of the tournament. AGENCIES