Messi keeps destroying records

Lionel Messi keeps on setting new milestones. After his hat-trick against Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, the Argentinian drew level with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo as the top scorer in the Liga BBVA, with 30 goals. Those three goals further reaffirmed his phenomenal form in 2015, a year in which he has already scored 18 goals in the Liga BBVA.

The Barcelona striker has scored 395 competitive goals with Barcelona, 273 of them in the Liga BBVA, the competition in which is he is the all-time top scorer. His first goal came on 1 May 2005, as Barcelona beat Albacete B. 2-0.

He has already scored 41 goals this season, 30 of them in the league, and 21 in 2015 (18 in Liga BBVA, three in the Copa del Rey). There is no doubt that the Rosario-born player has started the new year with renewed energy and has been even more lethal in front of goal.

With the three goals scored against Rayo Vallecano, Messi overtook the 40 goal mark for the season, a milestone he has reached for a sixth consecutive season. The first time he reached that milestone was 2009/10, scoring 47 goals. Last season was Messi's worst year in terms of goalscoring, netting 41 times, while in 2011/12 he registered an astonishing 73 goals.

That campaign, adding together his goals with FC Barcelona and Argentina, he beat Gerd Müller's record of goals scored in a calendar year. The German scored 85 goals in 1972, and the Argentinian scored one more - 86.

What’s more, Messi is also the player with the most hat-tricks in the Liga BBVA (24), and in Spanish football (32). This Sunday he scored the fastest treble of his career, needing just 12 minutes to score three goals. The first goal was scored in the 56th minute, the second in the 63rd, and he then completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute.