Sunday 8 March 2015 17:35, UK
Lionel Messi surged past Cristiano Ronaldo in the La Liga hat-trick standings after hitting his 24th treble in Barcelona's 6-1 thumping of Rayo Vallecano.
Messi, whose three goals came inside 12 minutes, is one hat-trick ahead of Ronaldo in the standings and has moved level with his Real Madrid rival on 30 league goals for the season.
The Argentina captain has now hit 41 goals in all competitions this season, his latest haul helping Luis Enrique's side move top of La Liga for the first time since August.
Former Barcelona mdifelder Luis Garcia, who watched Messi's hat-trick heroics from the Sky Sports studio, was full of praise for his performance - particularly a briliant third goal.
"He wasn’t getting involved too much in the first-half but second-half he gets two goals from almost doing nothing," Garcia told Sky Sports.
“It’s the way he is. He had the penalty and tap-in but the third is a top class goal. He received the ball so fast and knew, before anyone else, where the space is and rounds the keeper to score the goal."
Despite Messi's 32nd hat-trick for Barcelona in all competitions there was time to debate the Argentine forward's dramatic 'miss' from the penalty spot midway through the second-half.
Crisitan Alvarez produced a brilliant save, only for Messi to be reprieved as the referee ordered a re-take, and the 27-year-old did not need a second invitation, slamming the ball past the keeper.
It was the latest installment in Messi's penalty woes - he has missed five of his last eight - but Garcia does not believe the Barca forward has been too affected by his miscues.
“Yes, it could be because you have your mistakes in your head," Garcia added. "It’s true, when you arrive in that moment you have to have full confidence in yourself and when you have a mistake from another penalty in another game, you always have that kind of thing in your mind.
"It’s not easy. We know he’s got all the confidence. If you know the way he is, he doesn’t think about it too much.
"You can see how quiet he can be in games but in this situation he knows when it’s time to finish.”
