Barcelona’s Jekyll and Hyde season continued as the Blaugrana produced one of their best performances under Tata Martino for Lionel Messi to become the club’s all-time leading scorer in a thrashing of outclassed Osasuna.
Messi’s hat-trick took him to 371 goals for Barca in all competitions plus friendlies, surpassing the former best of 369 achieved by 1920s legend Paulino Alcantara.
Barca had lost their previous league outing at Real Valladolid before bouncing back against Manchester City in the Champions League, and this time they were in goal-happy mood against an Osasuna side who never stood a chance after Messi broke the deadlock.
Alexis Sanchez and Andres Iniesta added further first-half goals in a game that increasingly resembled a gentle training session rather than a competitive top-flight fixture, with two more from Messi plus strikes from Pedro and substitute Cristian Tello completing the scoring late in the second half.
Osasuna started quite brightly, having a goal by former Barca trainee Oriol Riera rightly disallowed for offside after Emiliano Armenteros’ shot was saved by Victor Valdes.
But then came Barca’s opener as Xavi found Sanchez, whose low right-wing cross was subtly flicked home by Messi.
Sanchez soon made it two with Jordi Alba darting to the byline before cutting back a low cross which was dispatched by the Chilean.
The outstanding Iniesta added a sublime third, receiving a pass from Sergio Busquets and crashing a 25-yard left-footed dart into the far corner.
And Osasuna were fortunate to escape further punishment before the break, with overworked keeper Andres Fernandez saving well from Dani Alves and Xavi before Pedro stabbed a close-range shot wide.
Osasuna impressively defeated Atletico Madrid less than a month ago, but they were in damage limitation mode in the second half as Barca pressed for more.
Pedro burst through to fire into the side-netting and Iniesta had a low shot saved by Fernandez, before Alejandro Arribas wasted a chance to pull one back by failing to make contact with a set-piece when left unmarked 10 yards from goal.
And Barca added their fourth as the irrepressible Iniesta jinked into the box to combine with Messi, who held off a challenge and fired a powerful left-footed strike into the far corner from a narrow angle.
Valdes tipped over well from Roberto Torres, before Messi missed his first hat-trick chances by lofting a Pedro cross over the bar and then seeing Fernandez make a good low save from his fierce 20-yard strike.
Tello scored the goal of the game with a brilliant curling 20-yard effort, before Messi completed his hat-trick with a tap-in from Alves’ cross.
And there was still time for another goal as Messi teed up Pedro for a simple close-range finish.
The win moves them four points behind Real Madrid at the top of the table ahead of Sunday’s Clasico.
