Lionel Messi Attacked

CHAMPIONS League hero Lionel Messi was yesterday ATTACKED by a crazed fan.Witnesses said the Barcelona forward, 23, was punched in the head as he signed autographs after leaving a restaurant in his home town of Rosario, Argentina. Messi - who scored in the Spanish champions' 3-1 demolition of Manchester United at Wembley last Saturday - climbed into a taxi. He later insisted: "I didn't feel a thing. I only found out after all the kerfuffle. It was nothing." The thug, who fled, was said to be a fan of Rosario Central - bitter rivals of Messi's childhood club Newell's Old Boys.Messi is in Rosario before joining the Argentina squad for the Copa America championships kicking off on July 1. A waitress said: "I asked him if he wanted to leave by the back door but he said he'd go through the front."