The story changed with Messi: Barca are now the highest-scoring club in history

It has been a long time since Leo Messi made his debut on the 16th October 2004 vs Espanyol. Who was then to know that Barcelona had one of the most important players in their history before their eyes, if not the most important.

He changed Barca's history and how. With him, the titles began to come... as well as the goals. It soon became clear that the Argentine was made to write his name in gold letters at the club.

One just needs to look at the numbers to realise what Messi has brought to Barca. Since his first team debut, the Catalans have been making up ground on their eternal rivals, Real Madrid.

'Los Blancos' were ahead of Barcelona in standings for all-time most goals. The gap was biggest in 1990-91, when Real Madrid were 139 goals ahead of Barcelona.

But Messi arrived and turned everything around. On the day of his debut, the gap between the clubs was 70 goals, with Madrid in the lead.

The change has been drastic. Barca currently lead as LaLiga all-time top scorers with 6236, 16 goals ahead of Madrid's 6220.

In other words, since Messi's first team debut, Barca have been able to overturn the 70 goal difference and go another 16 goals ahead of "Los Blancos". A big statement.

In his 17 seasons with the first team, Messi has played 767 games the exact same number as Xavi Hernandez. He has scored a whopping 661 goals and provided 260 assists. Barca have made the number 10 their pillar and the Argentine has restored their trust by helping them overtake Real Madrid in the fight for the club with the most La Liga goals in history.