According to tradition, anyone who scores three goals in a game gets to keep the ball. If Messi carries on the way he is, he won’t have much space left in his house any more! He has just added two more hat tricks to his tally, making a total of eight in the league championship.

FCB, 3 – R. Madrid, 3. 2006/07

Leo Messi delighted the Camp Nou on March 10, 2007 when a mere 19 year old secured his place in club history by scoring his first ever professional hat trick against Barcelona’s biggest rival of all.

Tenerife, 0 – FCB, 5. 2009/10

On January 10, 2010, Barça stormed the Canary Islands. Tenerife conceded five goals, and three of those were the work of Messi. He scored two in the first half and then scored an absolute peach of a chipped goal to add to the problems for José Luis Oltra.

FCB, 3– Valencia, 0. 2009/10

The first half of this game at the Camp Nou had ended with no score. But Messi came to life in the second with three goals. For the first, he left Banega and Bruno standing before beating Dealbert with a cheeky dummy and slipping the ball past César. The other two goals both came from brilliant assists by Henry, who also played his part in a wonderful performance.

Zaragoza, 2 – FCB, 4. 2009/10

Leo Messi almost missed this game at La Romareda with a dental problem. But he was well in time to play and scored the first three goals of the game. The second was a delight to behold. He won the ball in midfield and then worked his way around everything Zaragoza could throw at him before finishing the run with a pinpoint strike into the back of the net.

Almeria, 0 – FCB, 8. 2010/11

When Barcelona win by a margin like this, you can be assured that Messi will have something to do with it. At the Juegos Mediterráneos in Almeria, he was on target three times as Barcelona achieved its joint highest away win ever.