Picture Credit: Twitter
French champions Paris Saint-Germain came from a goal behind to defeat Israeli club Maccabi Haifa 3-1 on Wednesday night in the UEFA Champions League 2022-23 group stage fixture as PSG star trio of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Neymar Jr each found the back of the net.
With the Wednesday's victory, PSG are on the top of the UCL Group H with six points and a better goal ratio than the second-placed Benfica Lisbon, who defeated Juventus on the same day to manage two wins in two games.
Due to a security failure at the Sammy Ofer Stadium on Wednesday, a fan broke onto the pitch and rushed towards Argentine legend Lionel Messi. The fan hugged Messi before falling down on his feet while the Haifa security guards separated him from the PSG star. The fan received a six months ban, despite the police's demand to keep him off the pitch for three years.
Watch the video here:
A heartwarming gesture by young mascots on meeting their idol Lionel Messi
During the club anthem before the start of the match between PSG and Haifa, a group of young Champions League mascots displayed their perpetual excitement to meet one of the greatest footballers of all-time Lionel Messi. As Lionel Messi approached towards the ground along with his Paris teammates, the young mascots started waving and showed loving gestures towards Messi, who hugged the aspiring future football stars. The video of this has been doing rounds on the internet.
Watch the video here:
The excitement of the kids was on the peak to meet their idol Lionel Messi, which is clearly visible in the video. During the match, Messi scored a 37' equalizer and overtook his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo in two all-time UCL records as he became first player to score in 18 consecutive seasons.
Secondly, Haifa was his 39th opponent to have scored against in the UCL beating Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored against 38 different opponents.