Merciless Messi nets 28th La Liga hat trick

Lionel Messi went on a rampage at Camp Nou on Tuesday with his 28th La Liga hat-trick as Barcelona recorded an emphatic 6-1 victory over Eibar in a league week five fixture.

Lionel Messi’s penalty and another Paulinho goal put Barcelona 2-0 up on Eibar and seemingly on their way to a fifth straight win in La Liga after 45 minutes.

Denis Suarez added Barca’s third eight minutes after the break but Eibar pulled one back Sergi Enrich, to incure Messi’s wrath as the Argentine struck twice within three minutes before grabbing his fourth of the night to complete the rout .

Paulinho was rewarded for his winner against Getafe over the weekend with a first start for Barca, as was fellow goalscorer Denis Suarez. Luis Suarez, however, dropped to the substitutes’ bench.

Eibar, meanwhile, had lost all six of their previous meetings with the Blaugrana, scoring just three goals in that time, although they opened the campaign with two wins in four matches.

Just three minutes in and Marc-Andre ter Stegen already had to keep out a one-on-one with Sergi Enrich.

Barca’s rotations seemed to be holding them back at first, but they soon clicked and Nelson Semedo was barged off the ball by Alejandro Galvez in the box, allowing Messi to curl the resulting spot-kick past Marko Dmitrovic.

The Argentina talisman then bent a shot on target from Eibar’s D, but Dmitrovic flew over to his right to keep it out.

Moments after the goalkeeper pushed away a low drive, Paulinho climbed highest to power home a header from the corner for his second goal in as many appearances.