Football
Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent 6y

Lionel Messi scores 600th career goal for Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid

Lionel Messi brought up yet another landmark on Sunday when he scored his 600th career goal for club and country in Barcelona's game against Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou.

Messi, 30, scored a free kick as Barca extended their lead at the top of La Liga to eight points with a 1-0 win.

It brought up 600 career goals -- 539 for Barca and 61 for Argentina -- in just his 747th appearance and took his tally for the season to 32 in all competitions.

Messi's first-ever Barcelona goal arrived back in 2005 against Albacete and he became the club's all-time leading goalscorer in 2015 when he overtook Paulino Alcantara, who netted 369 goals for the Catalan side between 1912 and 1927.

He famously brought up 500 goals for Barca during last April's Clasico at the Santiago Bernabeu, scoring the stoppage-time winner as the Catalans beat Real Madrid 3-2.

A teenage Messi opened his account for Argentina in 2006, scoring in a friendly win against Croatia and his 61 goals for his country have come in 123 games.

Sevilla are the side that have suffered most against Messi, with the forward scoring 29 goals in 31 games against the Andalusians, while Sunday's goal against Atletico took his tally to 28 goals in 36 outings against the Rojiblancos.

Messi has repeatedly proven himself in the big games, too, scoring 25 goals against Real Madrid and finding the back of the net in Champions League and Copa del Rey finals.

The Argentina international has been the top goalscorer in La Liga since 2015, too, when he surpassed the 59-year record of 251 league goals held by Telmo Zarra with a hat-trick against Sevilla.

He also set a new record for assists in La Liga last weekend when he set up Luis Suarez in the 6-1 win against Girona, registering his 148th top flight assist and moving past former Real Madrid midfielder Michel (147).

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