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What's the story?
Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, breaks former teammate Xavi's records to become the player with most victories with the Catalan giants.
Messi also equaled Andres Iniesta, and only Xavi has made more appearances in the rich history of the Blaugrana than the current captain.
In case you didn't know...
The 31-year-old magician leads the goal-scoring charts in the European top five leagues and has scored 39 goals in all competitions. The Argentine genius is enjoying another sensational campaign so far, as he also leads the assists chart in European football.
In his 51st career hat-trick, Messi helped Barcelona win 4-1 against Real Betis yesterday and extended his lead in the race for Golden Shoe.
Before the win last night, Messi also was involved in four of the five goals Barcelona scored against Lyon in midweek, as he scored a brace and provided 2 assists in the game.
With his exploits this term, Messi is proving that he is still on top of his game and he is slowly getting closer to some long-standing records held by the greatest players of all time.
The heart of the matter
After last night's victory against Betis, Messi became the player with most wins in Barcelona's rich history. Messi experienced his 477th win, overtaking Barcelona legend Xavi Hernandez.
With a total of 674 appearances, Messi is only behind Xavi as the former midfielder played a total of 767 official matches during his tenure with the Blaugrana.
Meanwhile, Pele - who is widely regarded as the greatest of all time - holds the record of scoring more goals than any other for a single club with 643 goals for Santos. Messi's latest hat-trick takes him to 591 goals for Barcelona in his glittering career and the Argentine genius will be soon on the verge of overtaking the Brazilian legend if he continues his majestic form.
What's next?
It seems likely that Messi will break these records as he averages 50 goals per season while featuring in almost every week for Barcelona.
