Magical Messi: 3 goals in 17 minutes and 2 assists in one night

31-year-old Barcelona captain Lionel Messi made the difference between Barcelona and mediocrity in a 5-0 victory over Levante on Sunday night. Barcelona played in an unusual 3-5-2 formation, but that did not stop Messi from ... being Messi. The mercurial Argentine who was at his sumptuous best scoring three goals in 17 minutes, providing two assists, and being instrumental in every goal Barcelona scored. 35 minutes into the game, Messi duped three Levante players into tailing him pointlessly across the penalty box, then lazered a pass for Luis Suarez who scored Barcelona's first goal of the night.

Eight minutes later, Messi marked his name on the scoresheet, scoring a sublime goal with his right foot. He ran from the halfway line, and beat the Valencia goalkeeper Oier Olazabal one-on-one to to net the pass from Sergio Busquets. Two minutes after half-time, Messi gave Barcelona a 3-0 lead with a sublime low left-footed shot into the net. An incredible team construct led to Messi's third goal for the night. Suarez nutmegged Levante defender Erick Cabaco, dribbled into the box and made a graceful pass across goal to Arturo Vidal. Messi tapped in the first-time cross from Arturo Vidal. Messi provided

Barcelona their fifth goal with an assist to Gerard Pique. Pique scored the fifth and last goal of the match. Barcelona sits atop the La Liga table with this win.

Having scored a hat-trick tonight, Messi is now the top scorer in Europe's big five leagues, with a tally of 14 goals in La Liga. Barcelona's victory over Levante was Messi's 323rd La Liga victory, 1 victory more than Xavi's 322 wins. This means Messi is now the player with the highest number of victories in La Liga. What's more, Messi is the first player to reach double figures for both goals and assists in the top five European leagues this season. He has scored 14 goals and made 10 assists so far. Messi has scored 50 goals or more in eight of the last nine calendar years (club and international strikes). The ever-mesmerizing Messi has now scored 43 hat-tricks for Barcelona.

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