Messi makes 500th La Liga appearance for Barcelona

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The Argentine sat out the last league campaign at Barca but returned on Sunday with the Catalans wishing victory

Lionel Messi made his 500th La Liga appearance and 750th in all competitions for Barcelona at Sunday’s meeting with Huesca after returning to Ronald Koeman’s starting line-up.

Messi missed the 1-1 draw Tuesday with Eibar after receiving extended rest over Christmas to nurture an ankle problem.

However, Koeman confirmed Saturday that the 33-year-old had trained during the week, and Messi has returned to Barca starting XI for a famous tour at Estadio El Alcoraz.

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Messi’s 500-league appearance for Barca looks five short on the club’s record held by former team-mate Xavi, who also holds the record for an all-time appearance for the Blaugrana with 767.

Xavi is a total of 17 more than Messi’s current number of 750, including Sunday’s game.

Only the second player, and the first to be born outside Spain, reached the landmark for Barca, with Andres Iniesta finishing the podium after 442 La Liga appearances during the his time at Camp Nou.

The record for the greatest games ever played in La Liga is held by former goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta, with 662 games under his belt for the Athletic Club, Barca and Valencia.

Barca make the trip to Huesca unbeaten in five league games, but they have drawn two of their last three and entered the game 13 adrift points of the leaders of Atletico Madrid, who won from a last-minute winner from Luis Suarez to beating Alaves earlier on Sunday.

Messi was badly missed last week, when he watched from the stands as the Catalans were held 1-1 at home to Eibar to fall further off the distance at the top of the table.

Messi was directly involved in four goals in his only La Liga game against Huesca, scoring twice and giving up two assists in September 2018.

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