Lionel Messi is the 'Harry Potter of soccer', says Vieri

Lionel Messi has been dubbed the "Harry Potter of soccer" by Christian Vieri.

On Matchday Two of the Champions League group stage, Barcelona took on Juventus at the Allianz Stadium and comfortably won 2-0, with Messi recording an assist for the first goal and dispatching a penalty himself for the second.

The Argentine prospered in the space awarded to him by Juve and ran things in the middle of the park.

His overall performance earned him a 9.7 FC Rating and a place in FootballCritic's Champions League Team of the Week.

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Vieri, who played with Juventus in the 1996/97 season, waxed lyrical about Messi following the game.

"Messi is a magician, the Harry Potter of soccer," the Italian said while working for CBS Sports.

The former Juve, Lazio, and Inter striker jokingly went on to say that when Messi retires, he'll stop watching football altogether.

"When he stops playing, I am throwing my TVs away, I am not going to work no more on TV, I'm going to watch Netflix," he continued.

"When he stops, there's nothing else to watch."

During the summer, Messi came close to leaving Barcelona for the first time in his career after becoming disillusioned with performances on the pitch as well as how the club was being run at boardroom level.

He ended up staying, and has outlasted club president Josep Maria Bartomeu who resigned this week.