Argentine striker Lionel Messi on Sunday (local time) made his 500th appearance for Barcelona in La Liga. This was Messi's 750th appearance for the club across all competitions.
The striker achieved the feat in Barcelona's La Liga clash against Huesca, Goal.com reported. Messi had missed Barcelona's 1-1 draw against Eibar on Tuesday, but for the clash on Sunday, the striker made his way back into Ronald Koeman's side.
The 33-year-old was not able to score any goal against Huesca, but he did provide an assist for Frenkie de Jong to help Barcelona clock a 1-0 victory.
Messi is only the second player, and the firstborn outside of Spain, to reach 500 games for Barca.
Spain's Xavi holds the record for all-time appearances for Barcelona with 767 games. Xavi's total is 17 more than Messi's current tally of 750, including Sunday's game.
The record for the most matches ever played in La Liga is held by former goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, with 662 games under his kitty for Athletic Club, Barca and Valencia.
Barcelona is currently at the fifth spot in La Liga standings with 28 points from 16 matches. The side will next take on Athletic Club on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo surpasses Pele's record for highest career goals
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice during Juventus' Seria A clash against Udinese, which pushed his career goal tally to 758. Pele has 757 goals to his name and Ronaldo's latest achievement has reignited the discussion about who is the best player in the world as fans draw comparisons with Leo Messi and others.
Ronaldo opened the scoring with a trademark drive, after latching on to Aaron Ramsey's pass in the 31st minute, before threading a perfect through ball into the path of Federico Chiesa to score Juve's second goal four minutes into the second half.
The VAR had a busy evening in Turin. First, the referee was asked to consult the pitch-side monitor before ruling out what Udinese thought was the opener for a handball early on, before Aaron Ramsey suffered the same fate when he was penalised for handball, after a second look.
Ronaldo's second goal put the result beyond any doubt as he took his goal tally to 14 league goals for the season -- two more than anyone else in Serie A -- in the 70th minute, with Marvin Zeegelaar scoring an injury-time consolation for Udinese.
