Lionel Messi has moved to within one of equalling the Champions League goalscoring record by giving Barcelona a 1-0 half-time lead over Ajax in Amsterdam.
The Argentine's 36th-minute strike put the Catalan giants ahead, arguably against the run of play, and took him level with Cristiano Ronaldo and one short of Real Madrid legend Raul on 70 tournament goals.
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Barcelona, who are looking to recover from successive La Liga defeats, started brightly as Neymar found the net inside five minutes, but raiding left-back Jordi Alba was adjudged to be offside in the build-up.
However, the hosts slowly started to come into the game and came close when Lucas Andersen curled wide from outside of the box following a neat move involving pacey winger Anwar El Ghazi.
Lasse Schone and Davy Klaassen also had efforts, with the latter testing recalled Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but Messi soon opened the scoring at the other end following a Jasper Cillessen mistake.
The Ajax and Netherlands goalkeeper, who had moments earlier denied Alba, spilled the ball when competing in the air with Marc Bartra and Messi headed a cross from the defender into a vacant net.
Barcelona will secure progress to the knockout stages with victory this evening.
Joe Fish
