Leo Messi overtakes Cristiano Ronaldo's LaLiga hat-trick record
The Argentinean striker's three goals against Mallorca saw the Barcelona man overtake his old adversary.
Leo Messi overtook Cristiano Ronaldo as the player with the most hat-tricks in LaLiga, as he scored three times against Mallorca in Barcelona's 5-2 home win.
With this latest hat-trick, Messi has now notched three or more goals 35 times in the Spanish top flight, one more than Cristiano Ronaldo managed with Real Madrid before his move to Juventus.
Messi takes Mallorca to the cleaners
Messi claimed the match ball on Saturday evening with goals in the 18th, 41st and 83rd minutes.
The first was an unstoppable shot from distance past Reina into the top corner; the second that classic Messi goal, slotted home with his left peg from the top of the box, while the last was smashed home after a Suárez lay off.
Across the nine seasons that Cristiano Ronaldo played for Real Madrid he knocked 34 triples, including five against Sevilla, the most any individual has scored against one side.Messi has now played for the Barcelona first team for 16 seasons. Ronaldo scored his 34 hat tricks in 288 games, while Messi took 462.