La Liga: Lionel Messi hat-trick helps Barcelona equal record unbeaten streak

Barcelonas Argentinian forward Lionel Messi CR celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the Spanish league football match between Barcelona and Leganes at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona PicAFPBarcelona equalled the record longest unbeaten run in La Liga history as a Lionel Messi hattrick inspired the runaway leaders to a 31 win over Leganes on Saturday to make it 38 league games unbeaten The Catalan giants will look to break the record that Real Sociedad set in 197980 when they host Valencia next weekend with Ernesto Valverdes side now just seven matches from becoming the first La Liga side to go through a campaign without tasting defeatMessi was the star of the show at the Camp Nou with a magnificent treble as Barca stretched their lead at the top to 12 points ahead of secondplaced Atletico Madrids derby against Real Madrid on Sunday This unbeaten record has not only been achieved this season but also last year under former coach Luis Enrique said Barca coach Valverde Its a shared record because it crossed over between seasons It has been quite difficult because of the fact its an old record that hasnt been broken for a long timeValverde named a strong side despite having a Champions League quarterfinal second leg on Tuesday at Roma with Messi Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho all starting Suarez passed up two good early chances to put Barca ahead prodding wide and then seeing visiting goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar deny him with an excellent save But the hosts moved in front in the 27th minute through a trademark Messi freekickThe Argentinian stepped up and curled the ball over the ball and into the bottom corner from 25 yards out to score his 27th league goal of the season It didnt take the 30yearold long to double his tally for the day latching onto Coutinhos through ball and firing low into the corner Barcelona eased off in the second half perhaps with the midweek clash at the Stadio Olimpico on their minds and Leganes hit back midway through the second halfFormer Liverpool winger Nabil El Zhar cut inside and fired into the bottom corner from the edge of the box despite slipping as he shot But the home side finished off the match as a contest late on with Messi completing his third hattrick of the season in style The fivetime Ballon dOr winner chested down Ousmane Dembeles pass and dinked the ball over Cuellar with consummate ease To score goals is always good We think that Messi has to stay active and he avoids any muscular problems added ValverdeHes doing well and we saw that tonight Looking forward to the next matches the way he played is good news for us Barca will now turn their attentions to avoiding a disaster in Italy as they defend a 41 firstleg lead still bidding to complete the treble with a Copa del Rey final against Sevilla to come in a fortnights time Earlier on Saturday Sevillas hopes of qualifying for Europe next season took a hit with a 40 thumping at Celta VigoVincenzo Montellas side were taken apart by former striker Iago Aspas hattrick as the exLiverpool man strengthened his claim for a place in Spains World Cup squad Sevilla face Bayern Munich on Wednesdays at the Allianz Arena needing to overturn a 21 deficit to reach the Champions League semifinals Real Betis moved up to fifth with a fourth straight win as they saw off Eibar 20 while Alaves all but secured safety by beating GetafeCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever