Angel Di Maria: Juventus Star Surpasses Lionel Messi After Impressive Showing in Champions League

Angel Di Maria: Juventus Star Surpasses Lionel Messi After Impressive Showing in Champions League

Martin Moses
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:13 PM
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  • Juventus forward Angel Di Maria moved one assist clear of Lionel Messi's tally in the Champions League
  • Di Maria provided three assists to help Juventus kickstart their Champions League campaign after two defeats
  • Cristiano Ronaldo remains on top, with the Manchester United striker having supplied 42 assists in his illustrious Champions League career

Angel Di Maria put in a show on Wednesday night to hand Juventus a lifeline in the Champions League.

Juventus beat Israeli opposition Maccabi Haifa 3-1 to revive their hopes of qualifying for the next round of the Champions League.

Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Juventus, Champions League
Angel Di Maria in action for Juventus against Maccabi Haifa. Photo by Marcio Machado.
Source: Getty Images

Di Maria was the architect-in-chief, with the Juventus midfielder grabbing a hat-trick of assists to ensure Massimiliano Allegri's side recorded their first win in this season's campaign.

Allegri has been hanging precariously after recent Juventus results raised a few eyebrows in Turin.

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Di Maria's feat saw him surpass Lionel Messi and move to second in the list of the most assist providers in Champions League history. The Argentine laid off two goals to Adrien Rabiot and one to Dusan Vlahovic to take his assist tally to 38.

Cristiano Ronaldo remains ahead with 42 assists in the UEFA Champions League. Messi has now fallen a position back with 37 assists.

Di Maria will be hoping for a similar outing exit week when they face Maccabi again.

Juventus will be looking to get maximum points against the Israeli champions to give themselves a fighting chance against Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain.

Lionel Messi pulls clear of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Champions League

Sports Brief had earlier reported that the battle to be the best between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi continues. The duo are arguably the greatest of all time and have achieved many feats and broken many records on the football field.

With Cristiano Ronaldo not competing in the Champions League this season, Messi is taking full advantage of his rival’s absence to further cement his place in history.

Messi’s goal against Benfica took him clear of Ronaldo in terms of opponents scored against in the Champions League. Messi scored a stunning curled goal to open the scoring for PSG as they drew 1-1 with Benfica.

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Martin Moses photo
Martin Moses
Martin Moses is a sports journalist with over five years of experience in media. He graduated from Multimedia University of Kenya (Bachelor of Journalism, 2017-2021)
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