Lionel Messi Equals Hat-Trick Record but Luis Suarez Strike Vital for Barcelona

CAMP NOU, Barcelona — January 5, the day after Real Sociedad's 1-0 victory over Barcelona at Anoeta, found both Lionel Messi and his side at their lowest ebb for quite some time.

Fast-forward a little more than a month, and everything has changed. Barcelona have won 11 games in a row, equalling the longest triumphant streak that legendary coach Pep Guardiola managed to string together when he was in charge.

And at the heart of it all is Messi.

That week of crisis and bout of "gastroenteritis" was the springboard from which Messi and Barcelona have leapt into the stratosphere. Cristiano Ronaldo was about to pick up his Ballon d'Or and was trouncing Messi in the Pichichi chart of La Liga's top scorers.

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But with his hat-trick against Levante in Barcelona's 5-0 win on Sunday night, Messi has scored 26 league goals this season, just two fewer than Ronaldo.

Messi's treble also took him to 23 hat-tricks in La Liga since he made his debut, equalling Ronaldo's haul.

The winds of change have swept over Spain, and right now it's Messi and Barcelona that have the edge over Ronaldo and Madrid.

After the Portuguese forward missed a chance from virtually on the goal line Saturday night, Messi filled his boots around 24 hours later.

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Barcelona's No. 10 also had a goal ruled out for offside, unfairly, while only an excellent save from Diego Marino stopped him from adding a fourth goal late on.

Messi has been the heartbeat of Barcelona's rich vein of form, but his strike partners have produced the goods as well.

In the game after the Real Sociedad defeat, Neymar and Luis Suarez joined Messi on the scoresheet. All three of the strikers netted in the following game, a cathartic, thrilling triumph against Diego Simeone's Spanish champions, Atletico Madrid.

Messi, Neymar and Suarez were on the scoresheet again in Barcelona's swashbuckling 5-2 win over Athletic Club on Feb. 8, and that was the case once again against Levante exactly one week later.

The way Suarez's goal came will have delighted Luis Enrique, who has stood by his man despite his profligacy in front of goal since arriving from Liverpool.

It will have sent confidence coursing through Suarez's bloodstream, a player who thrives on it.

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With the game's result in the bag after Messi's hat-trick, Enrique threw on Suarez in place of Neymar, to try to get the Uruguayan a goal.

Suarez duly obliged his coach, and in quite some style.

Adriano floated a ball in from the left and Suarez tracked its progress as it sailed through the sky. The striker kept his cool, changed his body shape and then flung himself into a scissors-kick, catching the ball perfectly, dispatching it clinically into the bottom-left corner of Marino's net, leaving the stopper with no chance.

Moises Llorens of AS quoted Luis Enrique as saying: "Yes, it was a great finish, after a superb run from Adriano. He connected well. And it’s come at a good time for him on a personal level; it’s good news for all of us."

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The crowd roared, chanting Suarez's name, and his team-mates mobbed him. They have seen Suarez working hard and getting unlucky in front of goal; this was his payoff.

Jason Pettigrove of Bleacher Report recently wrote of Suarez:

"

When we talk about value for money and given all of the variables involved, the only thing that's really missing from his game is a few more additions in the goals column.

Once they start to flow, and they will, then this will be a non-argument.

"

The strike against Levante could do a lot for Suarez and for Barcelona. They have another home game against Malaga next weekend and then travel to England to play Manchester City.

That will be a game which is key in defining the season for Barcelona and Enrique. Neymar and Messi have already shown they are ready for it, and Suarez's goal will help him ahead of that clash, too.