European Team of the Week: Lionel Messi Steals the Show from Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi is WhoScored.com's European player of the week after helping himself to a hat-trick and earning a rating of 10 in Barcelona's 5-1 thumping of Espanyol on Sunday.

Messi could have ended the encounter with four goals after hitting the woodwork midway through the first half and was a constant attacking threat over the 90 minutes, completing four successful dribbles.

Fellow Liga attacker Denis Cheryshev features on the opposite flank after his display in Villarreal’s 4-0 win over Real Sociedad.

La Real had kept three successive clean sheets since David Moyes took charge but came undone in spectacular fashion at the Estadio El Madrigal, with Cheryshev playing a key role.

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The Russian netted the Yellow Submarines' second before turning provider for Moi Gomez, who bagged Villarreal’s third.

The 26-year-old also won an impressive five aerial duels, played two key passes and completed two successful dribbles, and he was duly rewarded for his efforts with our man-of-the-match award.

Tranquillo Barnetta was in fine form for Schalke at the weekend, registering three assists in the 4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart—no player has registered more in a single Bundesliga match this season.

The hosts struggled to contain Barnetta, who was able to play five key passes and make five accurate crosses in the victory.

Dimitri Payet partners Barnetta in the middle of the park this week. The creative attacker netted two goals and registered one assist over his two appearances against Lorient and Metz as Marseille maintained their title charge.

Over those matches, Payet played eight key passes to take his total to 66 for the season, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues.

Cristiano Ronaldo stars in attack once more after another fine display for Liga leaders Real Madrid.

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The Portuguese netted his fourth hat-trick of the season in Los Blancos’ 3-0 win over Celta Vigo to reaffirm their position as title favourites.

Ronaldo now has 23 league goals to his name this season, more than 71 of the 98 teams in Europe’s top five leagues, as he continues to excel for Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Ronaldo this week is partnered by Guingamp ace Claudio Beauvue. Though a midfielder by trade, the 26-year-old was deployed up front against Caen and Reims and played a starring role in both victories.

Over the two fixtures, Beauvue netted three goals and registered one assist to help lift Guingamp out of the Ligue 1 relegation zone after their poor start to the campaign.

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After appearing destined for the Villa Park exit, Alan Hutton has made the right-back spot his own for Aston Villa this term and features in defence this week after commendable displays against Crystal Palace and Leicester.

Hutton played a vital role in the 1-0 win over Palace in midweek, making six tackles, two interceptions and nine clearances as Villa came away from Selhurst Park with a crucial three points and a clean sheet.

In the 2-1 win over Leicester, Hutton played a big part in the offensive side of Villa’s game. A majority of their attacks came down the right (39 percent), where the Scot played two key passes and completed one successful dribble, and he was on hand to bag the winner with his only shot in the encounter.

Jordan Amavi features at left-back following his performances against Rennes and Caen. The young defender opened the scoring in the 3-2 weekend win over Caen and was on hand to ensure his side came away with all three points, making four tackles, four interceptions and three clearances in the win.

While he could not help Nice to victory over Rennes, Amavi impressed in defence with his rating in the encounter (7.93), the best of all the Nice players.

Cleber comes in at centre-back this week following his man-of-the-match performance for Hamburg at the weekend.

The Brazilian netted the opener in the 2-1 win over Mainz and was central to Hamburg’s victory at the weekend. The defender won six aerial duels and made four tackles, five interceptions and 10 clearances.

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Martin Skrtel partners Cleber at the heart of the defence. The Slovakian turned out impressive back-to-back displays for Liverpool against Leicester and Sunderland.

Over the two fixtures, Skrtel made six tackles, six interceptions and 32 clearances as Liverpool maintained their current three-game Premier League unbeaten run.

Young goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte completes the European team of the week.

Against Marseille and Bordeaux, the Lorient shot-stopper made a combined 13 saves, with five against Marseille helping Les Merlus to an unlikely point in midweek.

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team ratings.