Having seen eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo make plenty of headlines in recent weeks, Lionel Messi returned to centre stage on Saturday.
The Barcelona talisman may have been overlooked for Balon d’Or and FIFA Best Player honours, but he continues to set the standard at Camp Nou.
He also has few equals in La Liga, with another notable landmark reached in his latest outing.
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Messi was on target in Barca’s 5-0 mauling of Las Palmas, with the club from the Canary Islands the 35th top-flight foe to have felt the Argentine’s wrath.
Only one other player can claim to have achieved such a feat, with Real Madrid legend Raul paying homage to a man who has joined him on an illustrious pedestal, saying: “A pleasure to enjoy your goals every day in La Liga.”
Raul, like Messi, was a goal-scoring force of nature in his heyday, netting 323 times for Real over the course of an illustrious career.
His club record has since been passed by Ronaldo, but he remains an iconic figure in the Spanish capital.
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Messi enjoys a similar standing in Catalunya and continues to enhance that standing on an almost daily basis.
He has now found the target against every side taking part in the 2016-17 La Liga campaign, with Xerez, Murcia and Cadiz – who are no longer in the top-flight – the only sides to have kept him out.
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