The Argentine striker opened the scoring with a free-kick before notching twice more from close range
Lionel Messi needs just one more hat-trick to equal Cristiano Ronaldo's La Liga record of 34 after scoring three times for Barcelona against Real Betis on Sunday.
The Catalan giants cruised to a 4-1 victory at Benito Villamarin Stadium, with Luis Suarez notching Barca's other goal to equal Diego Forlan as the joint-highest Uruguayan in La Liga history.
Messi slammed home a 25th-minute free-kick to claim a 1-0 lead before firing in two clinical finishes from close range, including a delightful chip over Betis goalkeeper Pau Lopez for his third, to round off a stunning performance and bag his 33rd hat-trick in the Spanish top flight.
And it is surely now only a matter of time before Messi draws level with his Portuguese rival in the La Liga hat-trick count after Ronaldo moved to Serie A champions Juventus last summer.
Barca now have a 10-point lead over Atletico Madrid and a 12-point lead over Real, and their talisman Messi has played a considerable role in their dominant title defence.
The Argentina international has now scored 29 league goals - more than anyone else in Europe's top five leagues this term.
koecdelnr
400
Ronaldo made that record in 9 seasons And messi couldnt yet break it after 14 years
JerseyIsland7158710
277
The important thing here is that he will break Ronaldo is records no matter what. which is no many because Messi have most of records at the moment so then after that anything you losers!!says wouldn’t matter anymore because he will hold all the record that’s it and in the future you’re going to tell your sons and the son of your sons when they start asking questions like daddy daddy who Break this record ?and Who break that record ?and you going to say that was the little man LEONEL MESSI he did son :(. Jajajajajaj........ remember he is younger than him for two years and 2 months plenty of time fucking losers where is Real Madrid this season ???????????? You can’t win against Barcelona don’t have nothing at all they are rubbish
Sidharth20
259
Messi started playing Laliga before Ronaldo and he's still playing after Ronaldo left ... But still he couldn't beat Ronaldo's record 😂😂😂
ProfStyles
170
Well this is kind of funny considering the fact that CR7played for only 9 years wow and still holds the record which obviously Messi who has been playing since Adam is now going to break the record. Well he is going to break it anyways after all he is still in la logs while CR7 is setting new records in Serie A lol
shailabh
157
Ronaldo' fan boy back to their original place [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
zeheimtz
116
Every answer here!!! How many hatrick Ronaldo has in Sporting, united, and Juventus all together ? 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
Bsulav7
114
Why to compare these legends CR7 and LM10 One day they both will retire and you will realize that they were GOATS of football Just enjoy their foot magic. One after another record is being broken by them. Both are legends One is admired by talent - LM10 Another is hard worker - CR7 We should be motivated from them rather than wasting time in comparing them. Thank you FOOTBALL
Sank8messi
93
Yemdmpr
92
How about this ?
EdmilsonYoung
55
what's all this long critics about hat tricks? CR7 king of spain?? When did that happen? how many pichichi more than Messi? how many goals more than Messi? How many assist more than Messi? Despite the fact that he is always standing in front of goal, waiting to receive and score, he couldn't still do much unlike Messi who falls deep into Midfield and open defence with his skills and assist most of the goals. We are talking about an unselfish player who will sacrifice his goals for his teammates to score and build their confidence... if Messi was really after (hat tricks) goals madly like CR7, he would have set an unattainable record for years and would have given CR7 a headache.
Mathematics
54
Quite comparing M10 and CR7, but if you really want to compare them go back and check the statistics and the outcome of the games they faced each other starting from Man U till date. Messi messed up Man U in a CL match in Rome while CR7 was at his peak and repeated it in Wembly while CR7 was at his peak too then count other matches they faced each other and see who is leading in the chart. CR7 never scored against Barça while still a Man U player but Messi did. CR7 couldn't score against Barça until he came to Madrid. M10 won two Ucl finals against CR7 Man U. Messi is far better than Ronaldo believe it or go and hug a transformer.
yokbklmprt
45
stats dnt lie..ronaldo having 52 hatricks in his whole carrerr,compared to messi's 51..despite playing lesser n even younger dan ronaldo..cnt u jst use ur brain for once
SanusiAbass
45
There is a lot different in there because ronaldo started playing in la liga 2009 when he goes to real madrid and he has 34 hat tricks while messi had been playing for barcelona since he was 13years old so let understand the fact that the boss we always be a boss and the boss is still rulling
nikekmuy
43
those who are saying that Ronaldo scored more hat-trick than Messi just in 9 season so cr7 is better nooo. it takes 4-5 season to be matured enough to score hattrick and in starting 4-5 season Messi wasn't matured enough but Ronaldo was matured when he came to Spanish league. because he had already played 4-5 seasons
Harshit1
41
sorry but only one word for Cristiano.... GAME OVER. messsi is left with just 5 goals to reach Cristiano in all time league goals despite Ronaldo playing over 100 matches more and just 6 goals to reach Cristiano all time club goals as it stands at the moment. when AF said Messi was one hat trick behind Cristiano in la liga, CR7 fans were fast to troll him because he played there for just 9 years, compared to Messi's 14, but they forget that the next hat trick from Messi will not only match Ronaldo liga record but his all time record of 52 , in 150 matches less. now I know why Ronaldo fans hate stats, in less than no time , Messi will have more career goals, assist,club goals, league goals, hopefully ballon d'or (6), assist, hopefully equally champions leagues (5) , golden boot ( 6 ) than Cristiano in 150 matches left. statistics don't lie. Messi is the goat , 33 trophies, 5 more than Ronaldo. they said the only stat Messi will never beat Ronaldo in is his age , wow😂😂😂
Roeiknoy
35
sorry but only one word for Cristiano.... GAME OVER. messsi is left with just 5 goals to reach Cristiano in all time league goals despite Ronaldo playing over 100 matches more and just 6 goals to reach Cristiano all time club goals as it stands at the moment. when AF said Messi was one hat trick behind Cristiano in la liga, CR7 fans were fast to troll him because he played there for just 9 years, compared to Messi's 14, but they forget that the next hat trick from Messi will not only match Ronaldo liga record but his all time record of 52 , in 150 matches less. now I know why Ronaldo fans hate stats, in less than no time , Messi will have more career goals, assist,club goals, league goals, hopefully ballon d'or (6), assist, hopefully equally champions leagues (5) , golden boot ( 6 ) than Cristiano in 150 matches left. statistics don't lie. Messi is the goat , 33 trophies, 5 more than Ronaldo. they said the only stat Messi will never beat Ronaldo in is his age , very well said [Crylaugh][Crylaugh][Crylaugh]
Tiaalprstz
35
Ronald has been playing in the champions League since 2002 and yet he has the same number of Hattricks as Messi. Actually, until last week Messi had one more than Ronaldo. so years do not count folks rather what you do to accomplish in time, when given a chance. A chameleon is slow but sure