Messi's 500 goals analysed
Lionel Messi (C) celebrates a goal with teammates Neymar (L) and Luis Suarez (R) duringSpanish league football match.File Photo: AFP
Lionel Messi's 500th career goal could not prevent stumbling leaders Barcelona suffering a third successive La Liga defeat for the first time since 2003.
Lionel Messi took his career goals tally to 500 when he scored in Barcelona's surprise 2-1 home defeat by Spanish La Liga rivals Valencia.
It is the latest landmark in a remarkable career and comes less than 11 years after the then 17-year-old's first senior goal against Albacete in May 2005.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "The figure is from another galaxy," said Barca boss Luis Enrique when asked about the achievement.
Here, we take a closer look at how the Argentina forward reached the landmark for club and country.
Messi is something of a slow starter with only 50 of his 500 goals coming in the first 15 minutes - but look how ruthless he is after 75 minutes.
Want to stop Messi scoring? Stop him shooting with his left foot would be a good start. That said, he's not bad with his right foot. Or his head.
Messi is now on 42 goals for the season so still has some way to go to reach 82 - the number he managed in 2011-12
Atletico Madrid and Sevilla have reason to fear Messi most - he's scored 25 goals against each of them. That's four more than he's managed against Real Madrid
No surprise that the majority of Messi's 500 goals have come in La Liga. He will be keen to increase his World Cup goal account in Russia in 2018 - provided Argentina qualify.
Messi and Real Madrid's Ronaldo - his great rival - have scored 1,039 career goals between them
Barcelona right-back Dani Alves has linked up superbly with his team-mate over the years
Messi became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League fixture when Barcelona crushed Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 in 2012
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