La Liga: Barcelona beat Huesca in Lionel Messi's 500th game
Barcelona claimed a comfortable victory over bottom-placed side Huesca in Sunday's La Liga fixture. They defeated Huesca 1-0 in Argentine legend Lionel Messi's 500th league appearance for the club. This places him only five behind Xavi Hernandez's long-standing record of 505 games. Messi also made his 750th appearance for Barca across all competitions, another significant feat. Here is more.
MILESTONE! Leo #Messi is making his 5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th appearance in @LaLigaEN! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/EvSP8YC2cb
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 3, 2021
Mid-fielder Frenkie de Jong scored the only goal of the game as he arrived at the far post to meet a cross from Messi. The former scored on the volley in the 27th minute, which gave the visitors the all-important lead. However, Barca failed to plunder a number of other chances, thereby missing on improving their goal difference tally.
Messi is the first-ever non-Spanish player to make 500 appearances in La Liga history. As mentioned, this was his 750th appearance for Barca across all competitions. The Barca legend is now only 17 shy of Xavi's record (767 matches) for the club, overall.
Over the years, Messi has been ruling roost in La Liga. So far, he has registered 451 goals and 185 assists in the league, in addition to 369 wins. Across 17 seasons since his debut, the Argentine has also secured a total of 10 league titles: 2004/05, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2012 / 13, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Previously, Messi broke Brazilian legend Pele's all-time record for goals scored for a single club by netting his 644th career goal for Barcelona. The former achieved the milestone in Barcelona's 3-0 win against Valladolid. Notably, Messi has now amassed 644 career goals for Barca from 750 appearances. Overall, he has racked up 655 career goals from 782 appearances.
