Lionel Messi: Argentina talisman set to make 1000th career appearance, check out the numbers

Lionel Messi is set to make his 1000th career appearance as Argentina take on Australia in the World Cup Round of 16 match on Saturday.

This will be Messi's 169th cap for Argentina, in which he has scored 93 goals and won the Copa America title last year.

Messi Career at a Glance:

Lionel Messi made his club debut in October 2004 against Espanyol. He was 17 back then and came on as a substitute against their Catalan rivals to kickstart his illustrious career.

During his 17 years stay at the Camp Nou, Lionel Messi played 778 games and scored 672 goals for Los Cules. He won 10 La Liga titles with Barcelona, along with 7 Copa del Rey and 4 Champions League triumphs.

He joined PSG in 2021 and has made 53 appearances for the French club, scoring 23 goals. He also won the Ligue 1 title last season.

He has won 7 Ballon d'Or titles and won the Golden Ball in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, 2014.

Messi Goals:

In his career, the legendary Argentine has scored 788 goals. 93 of which has come for his national team. He has also netted 8 times in the World Cup and two of those have come in this edition so far.

Messi scored 30+ goals in the league alone for nine times, all of which came during his stay with Barcelona.

Milestone Appearances:

• Messi made his 500th Barcelona appearance in 2015 in a La Liga match against Real Betis. He capped off that match with a goal as Barcelona won 4-0.
• He made his 750th career appearance for Barcelona in a match against SD Huesca.
• The 35-year-old made his 999th career appearance against Poland in the last group-stage match.

Argentina have qualified for the knockouts as Group C winners and Messi will be hoping to continue his goal-scoring form as they take on Australia. If Argentina lose, this will be the end for Messi at the global stage of football.