JOIN US"Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better". If Lionel Messi was a fan of broadway shows, the Argentine might have been humming an Irving Berlin number after his hat-trick in Barcelona's 4-0 Champions League win over Ajax on Wednesday.
Messi’s treble came just a day after Ronaldo’s hat-trick against Turkish giants Galatasaray as Real Madrid romped home in a 6-1 thrashing.
What counts is not whether Messi did it better, which is a matter of opinion, but rather that the game of one-upmanship between the best players at Spain's two biggest clubs shows no sign of coming to an end.
Both have been smashing records with breathtaking speed and are closing in on more.
Messi, 26, took his overall goals tally in Europe's elite club competition to 62 and is now only nine short of Raul's all-time scoring record of 71 Ronaldo, 28, is hard on his heels with 54.
"The coaches who have come to this room have always talked about how surprising he is," Barca coach Gerardo Martino said of compatriot Messi at the Nou Camp press conference.
Perhaps the most characteristic of his three goals was the last, in the 75th minute.
Starting from the right and moving left across the edge of the area, he waited for a path to clear through the tangle of Ajax legs before picking his spot in the bottom right-hand corner.
"I'm happy to be able to help him," Barca's new Brazilian signing Neymar told reporters.
"He is a genius, the best in the world," gushed the new signing.
Another hat-trick for Messi. Another record. Another Barcelona victory.