Topics: La Liga, Barcelona, Real Valladolid, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez
The club's talisman, together with his family, were given a special presentation ahead of Monday night's meeting with Real Valladolid.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi received a special tribute for breaking the club's appearance record ahead of Monday night's league encounter with Real Valladolid. In the presence of his family and teammates, the 33-year-old forward was given a commemorative shirt to celebrate him surpassing Xavi Hernandez' record of 767 outings as a Blaugrana.

Prior to the international break, Messi achieved the feat in the Gameweek 28 appearance against Real Sociedad, subsequently inspiring the Barca charges to a famous 6-1 win over Real Sociedad. The attacker scored twice and provided an assist for Sergino Dest's first goal for the club and was showered with tributes after the night's accomplishment.

Ahead of kick-off against Real Valladolid, Messi was presented with a signed 2004-05 jersey, making reference to the season in which he made his first senior debut for Barcelona. He was subsequently joined for photographs by his teammates and his family. Watch:

 

Meanwhile, the Barcelona captain and his teammates managed to survive a scare against Valladolid by getting a late winner in Monday night's clash. With Atletico Madrid dropping points as a result of Sunday's defeat to Sevilla, Los Blaugrana needed to win to reduce the point margin between first and second to just one. However, Ronaldo Koeman's men were kept at bay for over 89 minutes by Monday night's hosts before Ousmanne Demebele fired home a volley snatch all the three points for them.