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Top 10 hat-trick shows of Messi's career... but which is the very best?

  /  autty

It's 51 hat-tricks and counting from Lionel Messi, after his stunning treble for Barcelona against Real Betis on Sunday, culminating in a sublime chip in off the crossbar.

Here, we look back over more than a decade of incredible goals and picks ten of the best hat-tricks.

Before we start, a quick warning - this is Messi we are talking about, so some of the hat-tricks have more than three goals in them...

10. Barcelona 7-1 Bayer Leverkusen. Champions League 2012

All was calm until minute 25, when Messi got the first of the night from a Xavi pass. By the 50-minute mark he had his hat-trick, and by minute 85 he was rolling in his fifth goal of the evening.

9. Levante 0-5 Barcelona, La Liga 2018

This was all Pele's fault. He had said 10 days before that Messi only had one foot and was not a match for him. After setting up Luis Suarez for the first goal, Messi scored three and the first was perfectly executed with his 'weaker' right foot

Something else was probably eating away at him – Luka Modric had just won the Balon d'Or and Fifa had not even put him on the podium.

8. Apoel 0-4 Barcelona, Champions League 2014

This was one Pele had obviously forgotten about - Messi gave his left foot the night off in the win over Apoel. Luis Suarez opened the scoring, then Messi took over, netting three goals with his right.

7. Barcelona 4-0 Ajax, Champions League 2013

Just 24 hours earlier Cristiano Ronaldo had scored a hat-trick against Galatasaray. This was Messi's response.

As on Sunday, the first goal came from a free-kick. He then rolled in two more with Gerard Pique heading the in the fourth.

6. Real Madrid 3-4 Barcelona, La Liga 2014

Penalties have not always been Messi's strong point over the years but he scored two spot-kicks in this game to ensure Barcelona beat Madrid in a seven-goal thriller.

They were 2-1 down when he leveled. Cristiano Ronaldo made it 3-2 before Messi won it from the spot.

5. Barcelona 4-1 Arsenal, Champions League 2010

When Nicklas Bendtner stunned Barcelona at the Camp Nou scoring first, Messi made Arsenal sorry they had ever taken the lead by scoring four. The chip over Manuel Almunia for the third is the best of the bunch.

4. Barcelona 4-0 Manchester City, Champions League 2016

Messi walked the first goal in past Claudio Bravo from Andres Iniesta's pass and then scored two more – this time past Willy Caballero, because Bravo had been sent off.

Pep Guardiola had said Messi was impossible to stop before the game, and he proved his old boss right.

3. Ecuador 1-3 Argentina, World Cup qualifier 2017

Argentina were on course to fail to reach the World Cup finals for the first time since 1970, and in the first minute they went 1-0 behind. Messi saved them with three stunners.

He carried the can when they then failed to win it but without his contribution Argentina would never have even made it to Russia.

2. Betis 1-4 Barcelona, La Liga 2019

Sunday night's was as good as any of the other 50. The left-footed free-kick, the conversion from a Luis Suarez assist and then that chip.

From the moment Ivan Rakitic rolled the pass to him he only has one thing in mind. He is already celebrating as the perfectly executed finish kisses the underside of Pau Lopez' crossbar. As with so many Messi goals, wind the tape back a bit and you see, as well as finishing the move, he also started it.

1. Barcelona 3-3 Real Madrid, La Liga 2007

This was Messi's first hat-trick - aged 19 - and maybe because of the shock waves caused it should go down as the best.

He scored it at home against Real Madrid and the goal that completed the hat-trick also salvaged a draw. It came from Ronaldinho's pass with Sergio Ramos and Ivan Helguera left sprawling in his wake, like so many defenders in the 12 years since.

Messi's hat-tricks by numbers

How do those numbers compare to his contemporaries'?

Related: Messi