Leo Messi will play in tomorrow night's Champions League match against Benfica, despite a large number of Barcelona players set to be rested for the game. Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Pedro and Cesc Fabregas will all sit out the game with Barcelona already through to the last 16 as group winners.

Messi, however, is expected to play from the start with a large factor behind the decision thought to be the desire to give him the chance to break Gerd Muller's scoring record at the Camp Nou. The Argentinean needs just one more goal to equal the record, following a brace against Athletic Bilbao in La Liga on Saturday.

The records are tumbling for Messi and if anything this season he has become more lethal. With 21 goals in La Liga after just 14 games. He's 8 ahead of Ronaldo in the scorer's charts but he's also outscoring entire teams around Europe's top leagues-

Messi compared to 20 teams from Europe's top league: League goals scored in 2012/13

And here's a breakdown of the scoring in 2012

Credit: The Daily Telegraph