La Liga: Messi reaches 400-goal milestone for club and country

The Argentine claims he never imagined he could achieve the landmark

MADRID: Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi said he could never have envisaged scoring 400 goals in his career after he reached the landmark in Barcelona's 6-0 win over Granada on Saturday.

The Argentine scored twice and set up two more, to take his tally of assists to eight, as Neymar bagged a hat-trick to send Barca back to the top of the table.

Messi's two goals took him to 359 for Barca, allied with his 42 for Argentina, in 525 games for club and country.

"I never imagined I could achieve anything like this in my career," he said via his official Facebook page. "Thanks for all the congratulations on scoring 400 goals with FC Barcelona and the Argentinian National Team. I'll continue working hard to reach more targets."

Receiving special treatment

Messi is the only player to have started all seven games under new boss Luis Enrique as the 44-year-old adopts a rotation policy.

However, Enrique admitted he is enjoying watching the 27-year-old play too much to hand him a break. “I prefer to see him on the pitch until the last minute to press and participate in our collective play,” he said. “The temptation is there, it could happen at any point in the season, but his habitat is on the field.”

Enrique was also quick to praise the diminutive Argentine on achieving the milestone. “I don't think if we added together the goals we have scored on the playground it would reach 400," he joked in his post-match press conference. "Messi is someone who has been touched by a magic wand and he is desperate to enjoy playing football.”

The Catalonians will face their biggest test of the season so far when they travel to face French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek. However, Enrique insisted he is confident that his players are capable of leaving the Parc des Princes with three points, regardless of who makes it into the starting line-up. "At the moment I don't see any player who isn't capable of putting in a good performance in Paris, and that for me is an advantage,” he said.

The coach’s confidence comes not only from the Blaugrana’s attacking resources, but also from a backline that is yet to concede a single goal in seven matches this season and Enrique believes it is down to them defending from the front and pressing high up the pitch. “When the opposition has the ball, the first objective is that they don't progress," he said. “It is very important for us to be efficient with and without the ball. The players are showing their commitment to being defensively strong."