Luis Enrique: Messi´s 500 goals figure from another galaxy

Luis Enrique has hailed Lionel Messi’s otherworldly statistics ahead of Barcelona’s La Liga encounter with Real Madrid as the Argentinian stands on the verge of scoring his 500th goal at professional level.

Messi has netted 449 goals for Barcelona, while adding an additional 50 for Argentina and could hit the 500-mark at Camp Nou on Saturday.

Luis Enrique is adamant the 28-year-old’s statistics are unique and feels other players would struggle to match him even if they counted their goals on the training ground.

“Messi being on the verge of his 500th goal at professional level is something from another galaxy,” Luis Enrique said at a media conference.

“Normal players would not even reach that figure if we count our goals in training.

“I’ve seen the faces of Messi and the other players. They are crazy to play and win the Clasico.”

Saturday’s Clasico will see two of the world’s most prolific attacks go face to face as Barcelona are expected to line up with Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar against Real Madrid’s attacking trident of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema.

However, Luis Enrique has stressed it’s not a duel between both attacks as they need their team-mates to shine.

“It is not a match between MSN and BBC. It is a match between two teams,” he added.

“For all that they are doing, the attacking tridents need the support of the rest of the team.

“It is important that we remain compact throughout the game. And then hopefully Messi, Suarez and Neymar can reach their level.”