The Barcelona skipper reached two new milestones with his goals in Sunday's La Liga encounter.

Barcelona skipper Lionel Messi added to his imperial form this season by scoring three times in Barcelona's 5-0 demolition of Levante in Sunday's La Liga encounter. The 31-year-old striker had a direct hand in all the goals scored, officially commencing his busy night by setting up Luis Suarez in the 35th-minute for the game's opener.

Eight minutes later, the Argentinian forward landed himself on the scoresheet to secure a two-goal lead for Barca ahead of the first half break. A quick restart in the second period saw Vidal, Suarez and Messi combining for the visitors third. The Argentinian slotted home a pass across from Vidal after Suarez – who set up the Chilean – had distracted the opposition's defense with a feint.

Messi then secured his hat-trick in the 60th-minute at the end of a movement which, once again, involved the two aforementioned players. With two minutes of regulation time left to play, the Blaugrana skipper set up Gerrard Pique to net Barcelona's final goal of the game. 

Lionel Messi's three goals against Levante meant that he is the first player to reach 50 goals across all competitions in 2018. He subsequently took his overall hat-trick tally for Barcelona to 43 with Cristiano Ronaldo (44) posing as the only player with more for a Spanish club. The Argentine forward's goal tally in the ongoing La Liga now stands at 14 in 16 appearances. 

Relatively, Barcelona's victory conferred Messi the honor of overtaking club great Xavi Hernandez as the player with the most wins in La Liga history. The captain of the Catalonian club now has 323 wins under his belt.