Lionel Messi hits 500 Barcelona goals tally

Lionel Messi’s goal against Sevilla on Sunday took his tally to 500 for Barcelona.The Argentina captain struck with a cool finish in the 43rd minute as Luis Enrique’s men came from behind to win 2-1 at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.Messi’s 16th goal of the season and 27th career strike against Sevilla took him to the 500 mark including friendly matches.

The 29-year-old’s total has come from 592 matches in the club’s colours.Barca broke down his tally after the match, with Messi’s 320 goals in LaLiga the biggest contributor to his total.

Excluding friendlies, Barca’s record scorer has 469 club goals to his name.Meanwhile,Luis Enrique hailed Lionel Messi as being in a league of his own after playing a key role in Barcelona’s 2-1 LaLiga win over Sevilla.

Barca were second best for the majority of the first half, but Messi’s goal shortly before the break saw them get back into the game, with the prolific forward then creating Luis Suarez’s winner after the break.

Luis Enrique was understandably impressed by the 29-year-old’s performance and singled his star player out for praise.“Leo has the ability to play in any position and interpret any situation,” Luis Enrique told reporters.

“There is nobody like him. We always try to get the best out of Messi.“Messi’s goal got us back in the game and helped us believe in the comeback. Leo was very strong, but so was the rest of the team.”

Messi was somewhat controversially shown a yellow card for timewasting late in the second half when he took too long to get his boot back on in the eyes of the referee after he was fouled by Steven N’Zonzi, with the attacker throwing it away in frustration after going into the book.

But Luis Enrique was quick to defend him, saying:“Sometimes the rules harm the player who is the victim.“The laces on his shoe were broken and he had to leave the pitch for it. Leo was all fired up and did not want to leave us a man down.“The rules are wrong. But the referee has to apply the rules and the players have to accept it.”