For victory over Alaves, Lionel Messi equaled Xavi Hernandez's record of 505 LaLiga Santander appearances for the Catalan club this Saturday evening.

By starting at the Camp Nou against Alaves, Messi drew level with his former teammate, having overtaken Andres Iniesta's 442 quite some time ago.

The appearance put Messi within eight of Xavi's record of appearances across all competitions, which stands at 767.

As well as equalling Xavi's record for the club, the Argentine has edged into the top 10 LaLiga Santander appearance makers.

Messi is still some way short of Andoni Zubizarreta's 622, and he trails Joaquin Sanchez (567 and still active), Raul Gonzalez (550), Eusebio Sacristan (543), and Paco Buyo (542).

Saturday will be Messi's 20th appearance of this LaLiga Santander season, in which he has scored 13 goals.