This was one of the most significant moments in football history – and we all missed it

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the 25,000th Premier League goal on Sunday.

But just a week earlier Gareth Barry became the first man since records began to officially complete 25,000 touches in the top flight.

In 2006, Opta expanded all their stats to included things like touches and chances created.

And this is the moment that Barry, 35, completed his 25,000th touch on record and wrote his name in football history.

Fittingly, it was from a short corner as Everton wound down the clock in the 93rd minute. Classic Barry.

In fact, the only more *Gareth Barry way* of reaching the landmark would have been if he had mis-controlled the ball and then been booked trying to win it back.

Can you smell the history?

Annoyingly, he had seven touches in injury time alone in the 2-0 win against West Ham.

If the game had ended on 90 minutes, or if Barry had been subbed off like he should have been according to the natural order of things, the Everton defender would have ended the game on 24,998 touches.

Meaning he would have started the game against Chelsea on Saturday with an outside possibility of scoring the Premier League’s 25,000th goal – with his 25,000th touch.

Sadly, the gods of football did not smile on us this time – and so he missed out on a place in the 20 most pleasing things to have happened in football history.

But it is pleasing still to know that a proper landmark was passed in football history and nobody even noticed.

It is the Gareth Barry way after all.

(It should be pointed out that Barry has probably had nearer 40,000 touches since his debut in 1998 – but as records did not begin until 2006 this is hard to verify. It is thought that Barry DOES still hold the all-time Premier League touches record, as a holding midfielder who has played over 600 games. But his landmark – the first man to reach 25,000 touches, around the same time as the 25,000th goal – is still one to be celebrated.)

MOST PREMIER LEAGUE TOUCHES SINCE 2006

1 Gareth Barry 25,057

2 Leighton Baines 22,325

3 Gael Clichy 21,909

4 Michael Carrick 21,909

5 Steven Gerrard 20,750

6 Bacary Sagna 20,212

7 Cesc Fabregas 20,045

8 Glen Johnson 19,617

9 John Terry 18,628

10 Wayne Rooney 18,499

*NB Due to the date range, early Premier League stars, such as Ryan Giggs, are not featured*