Lionel Messi made history on Monday as he played his 767th match for FC Barcelona, tying the all-time appearances record held by former teammate, Xavi Hernandez. Messi marked the occassion with a 4-1 win over Huesca and two goals to move the Catalan giants up to 2nd in the La Liga.
Messi gave his side the lead in the 14th minute with a brilliant strike from outside the box that bounced in off the underside of the crossbar, before French forward, Antoine Griezmann snapped a 9-game goal drought with an identical strike to Messi’s to double their advantage. Huesca pulled one back from the penalty spot through Rafa Mir after the VAR had seemed Barcelona keeper, Marc Andre Ter Stegen to have committed a foul in the box. Oscar Mingueza restored Barcelona’s lead in the second half with his first goal for the club with a fine header following a cross from Messi, before Messi rounded up the scoring with a curling finish from outside the box to make it 4-1 in the 90th minute.
Barcelona have now picked up 37 points from 39 available in 2021 and are the only unbeaten side in domestic football in Europe’s top 5 league’s this year. Messi has scored 13 and assisted 6 goals in just 11 games in 2021 as he continues to underline his complete dominance of Spanish football, breaking record after record. The title race is really on in Spain, with both Barcelona and Real Madrid looking to upstage Atletico Madrid from the summit of the league.
