Lionel Messi appeared in his 500th match in all competitions for Barcelona, scoring once in a 4-0 win over Real Betis on Wednesday.
Opponents
Thirty-one of Messi's 500 career games have come against his club's fiercest rival, Real Madrid, his most matches against any single opponent. Barcelona holds the upper hand in those matches, with 15 wins, seven draws and nine losses.
Which foreign clubs have Messi matched up with the most? It's a tie between Chelsea and AC Milan with eight matches apiece. But while Messi has scored eight times against Milan, he has yet to score against Chelsea. It's the only team Messi has faced at least five times and failed to score against.
Records
Messi's 425 goals are most in Barcelona history in official matches, with a league-record 292 goals coming in La Liga play. His most-victimized team? That would be a tie between Sevilla and Atletico Madrid -- he has scored 24 against each.
Messi is also a finalist for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or and is the oddsmakers' favorite to win the award for the fifth time, which would extend his record haul.
What's next?
The record for most matches in Barcelona history is owned by Xavi Hernandez with 767.
Over the five seasons entering 2015-16, Messi averaged 57 matches per season. Because of time missed for injury, he might not hit that mark this season, but, assuming he does not leave Barcelona, he could eclipse Xavi's mark some time during the 2020 calendar year.
The record for most appearances in La Liga is 622, which might be out of Messi's reach. If he plays all of Barcelona's remaining league matches this season, he would finish the season at 348 games, 272 shy of Andoni Zubizarreta's record tally.
Donato's 466 Spanish league matches played by a foreign player is a more likely record for Messi to break.
ESPN
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