Messi closing in on four records held by Xavi, Giggs and Pele

Lionel Messi is closing in on another four records ahead of his 17th season at Barcelona.

In anticipation of his somewhat surprising re-emergence, Barcelona-based newspaper Sport placed four huge records Messi is chasing on their front page on Wednesday.

The first is, on the face of it, the simplest – but it was also in huge jeopardy earlier in the year.

In turning out for the Blaugrana in 2020/21, the 33-year-old will enter his 17th season at the club.

Only Xavi Hernandez and Carles Rexach have achieved the same feat, making Messi the first non-Spaniard to do so.

Rexach, 73, only won LaLiga once between 1964 and 1981 while Al-Sadd boss Xavi, 40, collected a whopping 25 honours before leaving in 2015.

Messi joining the duo on 17 seasons is arguably only coming about because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Having become disillusioned by the way the club was being run, he attempted to enact an exit clause in his contract.

Officially, the clause expired in June and, with Barcelona’s season coming to a close with an 8-2 hammering against Bayern Munich on August 14, he had no way out.

Manchester City and Inter Milan circled but the Catalans’ insistence on Messi’s full £631million release clause being met made it very simple for the forward.

Either go to court or stay put, with just one year left on his contract.

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He explained in an interview with Goal: “They cling to the fact that I did not say it before June 10.

“When it turns out that on June 10 we were competing for LaLiga in the middle of this awful coronavirus and this disease altered all the season.

“And this is the reason why I am going to continue in the club.

“Now I am going to continue in the club because the president told me that the only way to leave was to pay the €700million (£623m) clause, and that this is impossible.”