With Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Espanyol, Lionel Messi matched Iker Casillas’s record for most wins in La Liga – and the former Real Madrid No.1 could only applaud the Argentine for achieving the feat.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner took just 445 games to win 334 games, whereas current Porto keeper Casillas needed 510 games to arrive at the same number.

Casillas, 37, admitted that he would have preferred that a Madrid player broke his record. However, he did state that Messi is worthy of being the record holder.

“I’d have preferred it to be a Real Madrid player, but these types of records are there to be broken and he has always done a great job,” the keeper told MARCA. “He deserves the recognition.”

“I am convinced that somebody will come who’ll also surpass his total,” he added.

After matching the record set by Casillas, Messi has a chance to break it on Tuesday when Barcelona take on Villarreal.

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