Ronaldinho Congratulates Lionel Messi on Breaking La Liga Scoring Record

Back in May 2005, Lionel Messi scored his very first La Liga goal for Barcelona against Albacete. 

The man who set up that goal was Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, the undoubted star of the Barcelona team at that time. 

"

On May 1st, 2005, Lionel Messi scored his first #LaLiga goal. 9 years on, he's the all-time leading scorer. https://t.co/9RNMWbuSCY

— Football.com (@FootballcomEN) November 23, 2014"

The rest is history, with Messi eventually replacing Ronaldinho as the top dog in the Catalan capital, and on Saturday, the Argentine became the Spanish league's all-time leading scorer when a hat-trick against Sevilla moved him to 253 goals—two ahead of Telmo Zarra's previous record of 251 league goals.

To mark the occasion, Ronaldinho posted a message on Instagram congratulating his old team-mate. 

The Brazilian posted a picture of the two men together with the following message:

"

Congratulations my friend, you deserve it... Being part of this story is very rewarding and seeing you today is a great pride, you conquered us all with your humility and talent!!! Congratulations Leo, family and Barcelona, you're awesome!!! .

"

[Instagram]