Lionel Messi accused of 'ghosting' for PSG in Champions League despite 2-1 win over Juventus

Lionel Messi has been accused of 'ghosting' against Juventus despite Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League victory.

But despite his impressive goal contributions this season, fans aren't convinced with his performances.

What's more, some fans reckon he's 'stat-padding' against the smaller teams while failing to deliver against the bigger teams.

One Twitter user wrote: "Messi can only show up against farmers nowadays lmao, always disappears against the big teams."

A second tweeted: "Messi is a serial bottler, imagine bottling the group top spot to Benfica. This is the fraud some people are calling GOAT."

A third added: "Messi ghosted today because he was playing against a big club."

A fourth said: "Questions needs to be asked of Lionel Messi, he ghosted in yet another big game. Stat-padding against smaller teams isn't enough."

Another commented: "Zero problems with him stad-padding. Problem is when they compare it with other player's big game numbers, especially CR7."

Although PSG went unbeaten in the Champions League group stage, they failed to clinch top spot in Group H.

The French giants finished on the same points as Benfica, who topped the group after scoring more away goals.

The Portuguese outfit smashed six goals past Maccabi Haifa to earn top spot.

Speaking after PSG's win in Italy, Christophe Galtier congratulated Benfica as he welcomed facing a big team in the last-16.

"Firstly, congratulations to Benfica. I have to congratulate my team, my squad too," he said.

"We've beaten Juventus twice and we were very happy until the 92nd minute. But if you want to go far in this competition, you have to beat big teams. Let's wait for the draw and see who we get in the round of 16."