Temas: La Liga, Barcelona, Lionel Messi, Celta Vigo, Cristiano Ronaldo
Simply astonshing!

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has closed in on yet another record of Cristiano Ronaldo with his exploits in Saturday's La Liga encounter with Celta Vigo. The 32-year-old Argentine forward struck thrice as the Catalans run away with a 4-1 victory, equaling his arch-nemesis as the player with the most La Liga hat-tricks in history with a total tally of 34.

It was business as usual for Barcelona who took the lead in the 23rd minute after Lionel Messi ad converted a spot-kick. Nevertheless, the Best FIFA Men's Player of the Year's first goal only lasted 19 minutes with Lucas Olaza restoring parity by grabbing his first La Liga goal of the season.

There were barely four minutes separating the Uruguayan's strike and Lionel Messi's second of the night which came from a free-kick. Three minutes into the second half, the Blaugrana skipper replicated the same technique in the opposite half to grab his set-piece hat-trick, a record equaling feat.

Sergio Busquets subsequently got on the scoreboard to seal the deal for the hosts in the 85th minute. In essence, his teammate Lionel Messi has now scored a career-total of 52 hat-tricks. Coincidentally, the last of the three goals he scored against Celta came via his 52nd free-kick goal. As things stand, he is just two free-kicks away from matching Ronaldo's career total of 54.

Also, according to Opta, Messi has now scored a hat-trick with two of his goals coming from two direct free-kicks for the first time in his career. Watch all the goals below: