As Messi is greeted by former Barca striker Gary he must get his head around one long lingering fact: the mercurial Argentinian has actually never scored in 655 minutes of action against the Blues
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BARCELONA are in town for Tuesday's Champions League showdown with Chelsea.
And the first thing Lionel Messi did on landing was meet a former Barca striker - Gary Lineker.
Messi linked up with the BBC Match of the Day presenter and his four sons with Lineker recording the moment on Instagram.
Lineker captioned the picture: "So this just happened. Finally managed to organise something that genuinely excited all 4 boys....oh, and dad. Thanks @leomessi."
Ernesto Valverde's men appeared in a good heart ahead of their first leg match against Antonio Conte's side.
Earlier, Messi, Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembele were all snapped at Barcelona airport before making the relatively short flight to England.
Last weekend, Barca beat Eibar in La Liga 2-0 with goals from Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba to maintain their seven-point advantage at the top of La Liga.
Messi, almost amazingly, has a record to put straight over two legs against Chelsea: in 655 minutes of action against the Blues he is amazingly yet to score against them.
But while Barcelona are unbeaten in eight fixtures in all competitions, Antonio Conte's side have been in in different form.
They will hope to maintain one terrific record with regard to Messi.
Around two-and-a-half hours later midfielder Ivan Rakitic was on the tarmac in England
Meanwhile, Chelsea hammered Championship club Hull City 4-0 at the Bridge in Friday's FA Cup fifth round tie.
The mercurial Argentinian has more than 500 career goals but has never scored again the Blues in 655 minutes of action against them.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner is just three goals away from joining the Champions League 100 club.
1. Didier Drogba - 3 goals
2. Frank Lampard - 3
3. Ronaldinho - 3
4. Tore Andre Flo - 3
5. Samuel Eto'o - 3
6. Eidur Gudjohnsen - 2
7. Andres Iniesta - 2
8. Luis Figo - 2
9. Rivaldo - 2
10. 11 players - 1
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Conte will hope his defence holds out well enough to deny Messi that honour over two Champions League legs.
Barca new boy Philippe Coutinho will not be on show.
He is cup-tied, having featured for Liverpool in the group stages.
The visitors will train at Stamford Bridge on Monday evening when they can wipe away any cobwebs from their two-and-a-half-hour flight.
