Leo Messi: Three hat-tricks in four games
A collection of trivia from the 5-1 win over Espanyol in Sunday's derby
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- The first of the three goals scored by Leo Messi was his 400th in a Barça shirt, friendly games included. Two further goals took his overall total up to 402.
- The Argentinian has now scored 12 goals in derbies against Espanyol, thus surpassing the previous record holder César.
- Messi has hit on an amazing run of form, scoring three hat-tricks in the last four games. Espanyol, APOEL and Sevilla were the victims.
- Messi is now Barça’s top goalscorer in La Liga with 13 goals, two more than the previous leader, Neymar.
- Barça’s win over Espanyol was their seventh in a row. In Liga, Champions League and Cup games, they have beaten Ajax, Almeria, Sevilla, APOEL, Valencia, Huesca and now their city rivals.
- Xavi Hernández was appearing in his 30th derby. Since his first taste of the fixture in 1998/99 he has experienced 20 wins, eight draws and just two defeats.
- Sergio Busquets was playing his 300th game for the FCB first team. He is the fifth player in the current squad to have reached that figure.
- Luis Enrique only made one change with respect to the team he picked at Mestalla. Ivan Rakitic took the place of Jérémy Mathieu, meaning that Javier Mascherano dropped back into defence.
- Pedro Rodríguez got his first league goal of the season, although he did score midweek in the cup game with Huesca.
- Luis Enrique has yet to lose a derby against Sergio González. As players they met seven times, with Barça winning four and the other three games ending in draws. This was their first derby encounter as managers.
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