Monday 27 April 2020 09:33, UK
Lionel Messi has now scored nine goals in five league games after hitting four past Eibar during a 6-1 win on Tuesday. We look at his incredible La Liga goalscoring stats after another explosive start to a fresh campaign...
Messi's midweek haul was the fourth time he has scored four goals in a La Liga game, having also netted his 27th league hat-trick against Espanyol a fortnight ago.
After starting the season on a duck, striking the post three times during a 2-0 win against Real Betis, Messi got off the mark at Alaves the following week.
After five matchdays, Barca sit five points clear atop the La Liga table, albeit having played an additional game than the chasing pack.
Messi has scored more than half of Barca's 17 goals so far and has netted 1.8 goals per game on average this term - that's 33 per cent more than when he scored 50 La Liga goals in 2011/12.
If Messi continues his current ratio and plays every league game, he would finish the season on an unprecedented 68 goals from 38 games.
And as if Messi hasn't smashed enough records, the 30-year-old is set to surpass Gerd Muller's record of 365 goals for one club in Europe's top five leagues, having set the landmark for Bayern Munich in 1979.
Barcelona's Lionel Messi tops the Sky Sports La Liga Power Rankings
Sevilla are the early forerunners as Barca's closest challengers in the La Liga table, but Sevilla are also Messi's favourite league opponents - scoring 23 goals against them.
Fortunately for Sevilla, they won't face Messi in a league contest until they meet at the Nou Camp in November.
