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Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi breaks records for fun, it would seem.
The 33-year-old holds a plethora of records to his name and he set yet another one last night after appearing for Barcelona against Rayo Vallecano in their Copa del Rey Round of 16 match.
Back after serving a two-match ban picked up in the competition's previous round, Lionel Messi started for Barcelona and made his 76th appearance in the competition.
This made him the Barcelona player with the most appearances in the history of the Copa del Rey.
Messi overtook Josep Samitier, a Barcelona legend who had made 75 appearances for Barcelona in the competition almost a century ago.
In the 76 matches Lionel Messi has played for Barcelona in the Copa del Rey, he has scored 53 goals - second only to Samitier himself, who had scored 64 goals in 75 matches.
However, Messi has six Copa del Rey titles, while Samitier won five during his career.
In fact, only one player has won the competition more times than Lionel Messi - Agustín Gainza, who won it seven times with Athletic Bilbao in the 1940s and 1950s.
Messi added this record to his already long list of Barcelona records including the record of being the club's leading goal-scorer of all time.
The six-time Ballon d'Or winner holds almost every single goal-scoring record in Barcelona's history and is inarguably club's greatest player ever.
A product of the club's youth academy, La Masia, Lionel Messi is currently playing his 17th season for Barcelona.
Over this period, Messi has made a total of 754 appearances in all competitions, and has been involved in 933 goals (649 goals, 284 assists) at the rate of 1.23 goal involvements per match.
The Argentine has won 33 major trophies with Barcelona, including 10 LaLiga titles and 4 UEFA Champions League trophies.
Lionel Messi marked historic appearance for Barcelona with crucial goal
Barcelona's visit to Madrid to face Rayo Vallecano in the Copa del Rey round-of-16 saw Lionel Messi help the visitors come back from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1.
Both teams returned to the tunnel at half-time with the scoreboard reading 0-0.
Shortly after the interval, the hosts were handed the lead as Fran Garcia found the back of the net in the 63rd minute.
Lionel Messi equalized just six minutes later before Frenkie de Jong scored the winner in the 80th minute, helping Barcelona through to the quarter-finals of the competition.
