Topics: La Liga, Barcelona, Real Sociedad, Lionel Messi, Sergino Dest
The Barca superstar hit the target twice on a night in which he broke another one of the club's long-standing records.

Lionel Messi marked a record-break night for Barcelona by inspiring them to a 6-1 victory over Real Sociedad at the Anoeta on Sunday. The 33-year-old Argentine superstar hit the target twice in a night in which he became the player with the most appearances for the club, surpassing the record of former teammate and captain Xavi Hernandes. 

The clash inside the Basque county started off with Antoine Griezmann opening the scoring inside the 27th minute. Six minutes later, Lionel Messi set-up Sergio Dest to double Barcelona's advantage. The latter subsequently added another goal a few minutes after play resumed for the second half to become the third American player after Jozy Altidore and Yunus Musah to score in La Liga history, and the first to hit a brace.

Three minutes after Dest landed his milestone, Lionel Messi was finally called into action to get on the scoresheet, scoring Barca's fourth of the night. Ousmanne Dembele made the scoreline 5-0 before Ander Barrenetxea got Sociedad's consolation goal. With a minute of regulation time left to play, Messi completed a beautiful passing move with a low strike to secure the big win for Los Blaugrana.

On the significance of his appearance on Sunday night, the Argentine successfully took his outing tally across all competitions to 768, surpassing Xavi's 765 to become the sole owner of the record. He has so far scored 661 goals and registered 263 assists since making his senior debut for the Catalan club and has won 537 games and 34 trophies.

In 2021 alone, Lionel Messi has been involved in 27 goals in 19 games across all competitions - the most managed by any player in Europe's top-five leagues. Enjoy the highlights of the performance of the Argentine star and his teammate in the big win over Real Sociedad on Sunday: