It is the nature of sports fans to crave a connection to star athletes in some (typically obscure) way.

Chelsea fans had, until today, a pretty good statistic that they could bandy about.

In eight Champions League matches versus the London club, Lionel Messi had never scored.

That drought ended in his ninth Champions League match with the London club when Messi scored with 15 minutes left to forge a 1-1 tie and make Chelsea’s route to the final eight of the CL more difficult.

Chelsea now needs to win the reverse match at Camp Nou in a few weeks … or it needs ties of 2-2 or greater to win on the “away goals” rule.

Chelsea may want to consider checking in with me, because Leo still has some problems getting a good result when I am in the stands at Barcelona.

In short, Messi has never been on the winning side — despite scoring at least one goal — in the two matches I have attended at Camp Nou.

How is that for a random Messi stat?

It was in October of 2012 when my father-in-law and I sat near the rim of that big bowl of a stadium for el clasico with Real Madrid.

Messi scored twice but Cristiano Ronaldo also scored twice, and it ended 2-2.

It was December last that I returned to Barcelona to see another La Liga match involving Messi, this one versus Celta Vigo. Messi scored an equalizer at 1-1, negating an Iago Aspas goal. Barcelona took a 2-1 lead when Luis Suarez scored in the 62nd minute, only to see Maxi Gomez create a 2-2 draw with a goal in the 70th minute.

Leo scores at home, Barcelona does not win.

I am confident Barcelona has won a very, very high percentage of its home matches, during Messi’s career, when the little Argentine scores a goal. It can’t have happened more than a handful of times. Including the two matches I saw there.

Twice in the stands, Messi in the game for all 90 minutes, he scores at least once — and Barca do not win.

Hear me, Chelsea? For expenses and a small honorarium, I could be induced to sit among your fans at Camp Nou in the second half of the tie, March 14.