Milestones and Records set by Barcelona and Star Player Lionel Messi after Levante Defeat

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FC Barcelona v Levante UD - La LigaBarcelona thrashed Levante 5-0 in La Liga on Sunday night with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick. Neymar opened the scoring before Messi scored three goals and Luis Suarez finished things off with a bicycle kick to help the Catalan club close the gap to Real Madrid to just one point in the table. Though things were quite shaky for the four-time world last season, this season Messi is set to prove to the world why is has won the award for Best Footballer of the year four times, something which no player has ever achieved. Not only did he score a hat-trick against Levante last night, he also set records for himself.

The match also saw a number of milestones and records being set by Messi.

1) This was Lionel Messi’s 300th La Liga match for Barcelona – 225 wins, 46 draws and 29 losses.

2) Messi has now scored 269 goals in the league for Barcelona – 34 penalties, 9 headers, 38 goals from outside the box and 13 goals from direct free kicks.

3) In 20 games against Levante, Barcelona have scored in each and every match – 63 goals in all.

4) Messi now has 34 career hat-tricks for Barcelona and Argentina. He is ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo who has 30.

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5) Messi also equalled Ronaldo for the most La Liga hat-tricks with 23.

6) In Spanish club football, Messi has 31 hat-tricks in all competitions – tied with Telmo Zarra (31) and ahead of Alfredo Di Stefano (28) and Ronaldo (27).

7) The hat-trick against Levante was Messi’s fifth hat-trick of the season.

8) Barcelona have won 11 matches in a row in all competitions – the first time they have achieved the feat since 2008 in Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge of the club.

9) Messi is currently on a goalscoring streak at the camp Nou – 17 goals since Barcelona’s 5-1 win over Sevilla in November 2014.

La Liga stats – 2014/15
Goals Assists Total
Lionel Messi 26 13 39
Cristiano Ronaldo 28 10 38
Neymar 17 4 21

Though it is too early to say, but if Messi maintains his current top form, there is nothing stopping from clinching that award for the fifth time.  I do not think it will be wrong to refer Messi as a Legend; because he has proved himself to be one.

Stats taken from Infostrada, WhoScored and @OptaJose