Lionel Messi's two-goal performance on Wednesday put him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and tied Raul's record for most career goals in UEFA Champions League history.

Messi tied Ronaldo, scoring his 70th career Champions League goal in the 36th minute, heading in Marc Bartra cross after Ajax Amsterdam keeper Jasper Cillessen mishandled Messi's free kick that set the entire play in motion. Messi would tie Raul with his 71st career goal in the 76th minute when he sped by Ajax defender Niklas Moisander and slid Pedro's pass past Cillessen to seal the 2-0 win for Barcelona, helping the club advance into the Round of 16 phase of the tournament.

Messi scored his 71st career goal in just 90 Champions League appearances compared to 142 appearances by Raul and 107 by Ronaldo.

"Messi is without doubt the best player I've seen as a player and a coach," said Barcelona coach Luis Enrique.

Barcelona sits in second place of Group F, with nine points, despite Messi's performance against third-place Ajax (two points) and one point behind Paris Saint-Germain (10 points). PSG also advanced into the Round of 16 after defeating Apoel Nicosia (one point). Edinson Cavani scored the only goal of the game on the last-place club from Cyprus in record time, blasting Gregory van der Wiel's cross past Apoel keeper Urko Pardo 38-seconds into the game -- the fastest goal in Champions League history.

For the latest sports news, follow @LatinPostSports on Twitter 

English Premier League (EPL) champion Manchester City faces elimination from Champions League after a horrible performance against CSKA Moscow. Seydou Doumbia quieted the crowd at Etihad Stadium with a header in the second minute of the match with a header that whizzed by Man City keeper Joe Hart. Yaya Touré would tie the game 1-1 on a free kick six minutes later, but things went down hill for Manchester City after Bebras Natcho found Doumbia wide-open in the 34th minute to score his second goal of the night.

Manchester City would not put up much of a fight after midfielder Fernandinho picked up his second yellow card and was ejected in the 70th minute while Touré picked up a red card in the 81st minute for fighting.

"It's not my place to criticize the referee, especially in this game when his mistakes weren't just the difference in the result," said Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini to BBC Radio 5 after the game. "I don't want to link the referee with the result."

Manchester City sits in last place in Group E (two points) while CSKA Moscow is third with four points. Bayern Munich continues their dominance over Group E, remaining undefeated in the Group Stage with 12 points, beating second-place AS Roma (four points) 2-0 to advance into the Round of 16 thanks to goals by Franck Ribéry and Mario Götze.

"I'd like to congratulate my players. I never expected to qualify after four games," said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City vs CSKA Moscow

Current EPL leader Chelsea drew the ire of their coach once again, with Jose Mourinho upset with his team's 1-1 performance against Slovenian club NK Maribor. Maribor midfielder Agim Ibraimi caught Chelsea keeper Petr Cech off-guard rocketing a shot from the top corner to put them ahead 1-0. Nemanja Matic would tie the game in the 73rd minute, but with a chance to win on the road Eden Hazard blew a penalty kick in the 86th minute that ended the game in a 1-1 draw.

"Many times surprises happen when people are not fully focused, when they believe the game can't be a difficult one," said Mourinho after the game. "Only when Maribor scored did the players realize the game was in danger. After that, a fantastic reaction. We deserved to win, clearly."

Chelsea stays at the top of Group G, with eight points, despite the draw with Maribor (last place with three points), ahead of second-place Schalke 04 (five points) of the Bundesliga who lost 4-2 to Sporting Lisbon of Portugal's Primeira Liga.

NK Maribor vs Chelsea

Primeira Liga club Porto assured their spot in the Round of 16, currently in first place in Group H with 10 points, after beating last place Athletic Bilbao (one point) 2-0 thanks to goals by Colombian striker Jackson Martínez (who missed a penalty shot earlier in the match) in the 42nd minute of the match and Yacine Brahimi.

Luiz Adriano kept second-place Shakhtar Donetsk's hopes alive while extending his lead as the Champions League leading goal scorer, with nine goals in the tournament, after scoring a hat trick on BATE Borisov, currently sitting in third place in Group H with three points after defeating Belarusian club 5-0.

Shakhtar Donetsk vs BATE Borisov

FOR MORE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NEWS, VISIT LATIN POST.COM'S SPORTS PAGE