Messi plays 400th match for Barcelona

Source: AP

Lionel Messi

Argentina forward Lionel Messi played his 400th official match for Barcelona as his team crushed Levante 4-1 in yesterday's La Liga fixture.

Messi became the 11th player to play 400 or more matches for Barcelona in the game where he provided three assists to Cristian Tello at Ciutat Esportiva.

European governing body of football UEFA congratulated Messi in an official statement on its website, saying: "Despite Messi being tipped for stardom from a ripe age, few could have predicted the earth-shattering impact he would have on world football since making his first-team bow aged 17 against RCD Espanyol on 16 October 2004."

"The diminutive forward, now 26, went on to feature nine times that season, opening his account for the Catalan club with a trademark lob at home to Albacete Balompié on 1 May 2005." "Almost a decade later and the Argentinian international holds an unprecedented collection of honours, records and title," the statement read.

Messi's honours during his 400-match stay with Barcelona:

UEFA honours

UEFA Champions League: 2006, 2009, 2011

UEFA Champions League leading scorer: 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2011/12

UEFA Super Cup: 2009, 2011

UEFA Best Player in Europe: 2011

UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2009

UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2009 

FIFA honours

FIFA Club World Cup: 2009, 2011

FIFA Ballon d'Or: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Domestic honours

Spanish Liga: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013

Copa del Rey: 2009, 2012

Spanish Super Cup: 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013

UEFA records

Goals in a European Cup campaign: 14 (shared with AC Milan's José Altafini)

Consecutive European Cup top scorer awards: 4

Goals in a UEFA Champions League game: 5 (v Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2012)

UEFA Champions League hat-tricks: 5

Other records

Goals for club and country in a calendar year: 91

Goals in a Liga season: 50

Hat-tricks in a Liga season: 8

Away goals in the Spanish Liga: 100

Goals in Clásico matches: 18 (level with Alfredo Di Stéfano)

Consecutive Liga matches scored in: 21

Season by season

2004/05

Appearances: 9

Goals: 1

2005/06

Appearances: 25

Goals: 8

2006/07

Appearances: 36

Goals: 17

2007/08

Appearances: 40

Goals: 16

2008/09

Appearances: 51

Goals: 38

2009/10

Appearances: 53

Goals: 47

2010/11

Appearances: 55

Goals: 53

2011/12

Appearances: 60

Goals: 73

2012/13

Appearances: 50

Goals: 60

2013/14

Appearances: 21

Goals: 18

Total: 400 appearances, 331 goals