Lionel Messi scored the 24th hat-trick of his La Liga career and joined Cristiano Ronaldo as joint leading scorer this season after Barcelona thrashed Rayo Vallecano 6-1 on Sunday afternoon.
The victory takes Barcelona to the top of the table. Messi joins Ronaldo on 30 goals for the season so far, their nearest challenger being Neymar on 17 goals.
Both sides finished the match with ten men, Román Triguero picking up a second yellow card and Barca’s Dani Alves was sent packing ten minutes from the end for tripping Bueno as he went through on goal.
Messi actually missed his first penalty attempt but made amends when the referee decided it should be retaken.