Daily Times

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi on Sunday surpassed Dani Alves’ record of most appearances in the Spanish La Liga as a foreign player.

Messi made his 423rd appearance with Barcelona in Spain’s La Liga in a tough 2-2 draw against Girona at the Camp Nou. Former Barcelona team-mate Dani Alves previously held the record with 422 appearances.

The record-breaking eve for Messi, however, did not play out well for his club as Barca dropped points at their own backyard. Visitors Girona struck twice after Lionel Messi opened the scoring in the early minutes of the first half.

Barcelona‘s new signing Clement Lenglet received a red-card at minute 35 after which Girona’s Christian Stuani scored twice – one right at the edge of half time and another 6 minutes into the second half – to put the visitors in front.

Girona’s lead could only last 12 minutes as Gerard Pique scored the equaliser, which proved to be the final goal of Sunday’s fixture.

Real Madrid, who drew away at Atheltic Bilbao last week, scored a hard-fought win against Espanyol. The two-rivals are equal on points in 5 games, with 2 goals separating the two at the top of the table.

Barcelona will play Leganes away on Wednesday on match-day six of the Spanish league.