Lionel Messi made his 500th appearance for FC Barcelona on Wednesday and, naturally, was on the scoresheet. Messi was named in the starting XI, as well as captain for the night, despite having just passed a kidney stone and traveling between Japan, Argentina, Dubai and Barcelona over the past 10 days.
No matter. Messi put in another Man of the Match performance during Barca's 4-0 La Liga victory over Real Betis.
Lionel Messi’s first contribution in the match was to get utterly clattered by Betis goalkeeper Antonio Adán, resulting in a controversial penalty and an advantage for Barca.
With Barcelona benefitting from the referee’s decision, Messi then got on the scoresheet thanks to an unselfish assist from Neymar. 10 years and two months after making his first team debut as a substitute against Espanyol, Messi has now gone on to score 425 goals for the Blaugrana.
Lionel Messi's 425th goal in 500 appearances (Barcelona 2 - Real Betis 0):
We would be remiss not to include Neymar's stunning assist to Luis Suarez for Barcelona's fourth goal. Was it intentional? If so, it was sensational.
Neymar's assist to Luis Suarez (Barcelona 4 - Real Betis 0):
For Messi, that’s now an astounding average of 0.85 goals per game to go along with 159 assists. More importantly for the Argentinian wizard is the fact that those goals and assists have led to 26 trophies for Barca, including seven La Liga titles, four Champions League triumphs, three Copa del Reys and three Club World Cups.
Lionel Messi's statistics prior to his 500th appearance. Photo: @SquawkaNews | Twitter
Messi can now set his sights on surpassing those above him in Barca appearances, including Victor Valdes, Migueli, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol. The club's all-time leading scorer needs 267 more appearances to match the club’s appearances record, held by the midfielder Xavi Hernandez.
The 28-year-old shows no signs of slowing down. He’s the odds-on favorite to win his fifth Ballon d’Or crown next month and, barring a stunning transfer to another club, looks set to delight Camp Nou faithful for years to come. Supporters in Santa Clara, Chicago and Seattle will also have a chance to witness the Argentinian this summer during the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
Photo: @FourFourTweet
