Lionel Messi marks 500 LaLiga games with milestone 200th assist in Barcelona win: WATCH

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi marked his 500th LaLiga appearance with another milestone. The six-time Ballon d'Or winner notched up his 200th assist, helping Barcelona to a crucial 1-0 win over relegation-threatened Huesca on Sunday. The Argentine superstar, surprisingly, wasn't able to get on the scoresheet on the night of his 500th game in the Spanish top flight but still managed to set up midfielder Frenkie de Jong for his goal in the 27th minute of the game at the Estadio El Alcoraz. 

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Huesca vs Barcelona: Lionel Messi makes 500th LaLiga appearance

On Sunday, when the Barcelona starting line-up to face Huesca was announced, it was confirmed that Lionel Messi would be making his 500th appearance in the LaLiga. The star forward missed Barcelona's 1-1 draw against Eibar on Tuesday after he was given an extended break over Christmas to nurse an ankle problem. However, after having trained with the squad on Saturday, Messi was included in Barcelona's starting line-up for Sunday's clash against Huesca, who are currently at the bottom of the LaLiga table. 

Messi's 500th LaLiga appearance for Barcelona made him the first non-Spanish player to reach the milestone in the history of the competition. He is now only five league appearances behind Xavi Hernandez, who holds the record for the most LaLiga appearances for Barcelona. The 10-time LaLiga winner added his 750th appearance for Barcelona in all competitions against Huesca, meaning he is only 17 shy of Xavi's record of 767 all-time for the club.

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Barcelona made the trip to Huesca unbeaten in five league matches, but they had drawn two of their last three and entered the game 13 points adrift of leaders Atletico Madrid, who benefited from a last-minute winner from Luis Suarez to beat Alaves earlier on Sunday. 

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Messi 200th assist: Barcelona forward reaches milestone double century of assists

Messi went on to make his presence felt against Huesca and it took the star attacker just 27 minutes to make an impact. He picked up the ball on the left and provided an inch-perfect cross for Frenkie de Jong to tap home from close range. According to stats from ESPN, it was Messi's 200th assist in LaLiga for Barcelona. De Jong's goal turned out to be the only one of the game as Barcelona earned a crucial three points to move into fifth place in the LaLiga standings. 

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Image Credits - Barcelona Twitter