Messi reaches 50-goal milestone for 2018 with hat-trick as Barcelona sink Levante

Ernesto Valverde paid tribute to the role of Lionel Messi as Barcelona swept past Levante 5-0 as the Catalan club cemented top spot in the Primera Liga table.

Messi scored yet another hattrick as Barcelona laid a few ghosts and opened a threepoint lead over Sevilla and Atletico Madrid. Arch-rivals Real Madrid, who are now in the UAE to contest the Fifa Club World Cup, are five points adrift in fourth place.

The Argentina forward completed his 49th career hat-trick with his 50th goal for club and country of 2018, and Valverde said he had run out of superlatives for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“I don’t know how to describe Messi, it’s the most asked question,” the Barcelona manager said. “He is the player who makes us play and scores great goals.”

The champions needed no reminder of their last visit to the Ciutat de Valencia, when their dream of completing an unbeaten domestic campaign was extinguished in a sensational 5-4 defeat in May – the season’s penultimate game.

“We are happy because last year we played here and conceded five after a whole season without losing,” Valverde said. “That was only a few months ago, they are having a great season and they keep showing that. We remembered last year and we managed to put it behind us and leave with a clean sheet.”

Levante started well again and could have taken the lead when Emmanuel Boateng hammered a shot against the the crossbar which just stayed out. “Because of the result it will look easy, but it wasn’t so much, especially at the beginning,” Valverde said.

“They started as we imagined. We had to change the set-up based on the casualties we had so it was difficult for us and they squeezed us.”

Boateng’s miss proved costly as two minutes later Enis Bardhi’s attempt to play his way out of trouble backfired. The loose ball fell to Messi, who jinked his way across the outside of the penalty area before providing an improbable reverse pass for Luis Suarez to volley home.

Two minutes before half-time Messi doubled the lead after a mistake by Ruben Rochina on the halfway line.

Rochina’s pass went straight to Sergio Busquets, who sent Messi racing through to fire through the legs of keeper Oier.

Levante had not learned their lesson as, two minutes after the restart, another loose pass in midfield handed Barca their third.

This time Suarez led the charge before feeding Jordi Alba, who drove the ball across the area for Messi to sweep home. Messi completed his treble on the hour, Suarez bulldozing his way down the left before crossing to Arturo Vidal, who laid the ball back for the Argentine to tap in.