Barcelona
Messi sees red as Bilbao stun Barca to win Spanish Super Cup
Moments before Bilbao's momentous triumph was confirmed, Messi threw an arm at Asier Villalibre, who had earlier scored a 90th-minute equaliser in normal time...
Messi beat Pele's record of 643 goals for one club when he scored Barcelona's third goal, and the 644th of his Barca career, in the 3-0 win against Valladolid on Tuesday.
Bayern Munich, who beat PSG in the 2020 final, play Lazio in the knockout phase while 2012 winners Chelsea have a tough task against Atletico Madrid.
They are the first teams to make it out of the group stage, doing so with two games to spare, on a night which saw Erling Braut Haaland, Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes all get among the goals.
Barca travel to Ukraine on top of Group G with a perfect nine points after three games, three points ahead of second-placed Juventus, but they are a lowly 12th in La Liga after losing 1-0 to Atletico Madrid on Saturday.
Making his 150th appearance in European competition, Lionel Messi dispatched an early penalty at Camp Nou after he was fouled in the area and Gerard Pique headed in Ansu Fati's cross on the hour.
Among the fans, the biggest hope will be change at the top brings a change of heart for Lionel Messi.
The notion of a splinter league for the continent's high rollers first surfaced through a series of leaked emails and documents in November 2018 claiming that a host of Europe's biggest clubs were working on plans for a 16-team Super League to kick-off as early as 2021.
Bartomeu's departure comes following mounting pressure from fans and his public falling out with Lionel Messi.
Portuguese TVI reported that Ronaldo "has once against tested positive for Covid-19" following a swab carried out by Juventus.
Bartomeu faces a vote of no confidence after turbulent times at the Camp Nou, not least the standoff with club legend Lionel Messi who was blocked from leaving this summer.
Madrid's win earns them a six-point lead over the Catalans in the table, albeit having played one game more.
Madrid and their coach head to Camp Nou under pressure after consecutive defeats to Cadiz in La Liga and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League.
The two heavyweights were drawn in Group G along with Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine and Ferencvaros, the Hungarian club returning to the group stage for the first time in quarter of a century.
Messi tried to force his exit from Barcelona but finally accepted that he would have to see out the final year of his contract. Meanwhile, two of his closest friends on the team, Suarez and the Chilean Arturo Vidal have left.
Since joining Barca from Liverpool in 2014, Luis Suarez has won a host of trophies, including the 2015 Champions League and four Liga titles.
After joining in 2018, Vidal played 96 games for the Catalans and scored 11 goals, helping them win La Liga in his first year in Spain.
Forbes said that in 2020 Messi was the best paid footballer in the world with an income of $126 million from his Barca salary ($92 million for the 2020/2021 season) and $34 million from sponsors and other sources.
La Liga had previously intervened in the dispute by announcing Lionel Messi's €700-million release clause still applied, a statement later rejected by Messi's agent and father Jorge.