Leo Messi scores third-fastest ever hat-trick

The FC Barcelona star scores three goals in 19 minutes for Argentina against Panama after only coming off the bench in the second half

Watching Leo Messi score a hat-trick is no longer a surprising sight, yet the manner in which he managed his latest three-goal haul was quite special, even for his sky-high standards.

After coming off the bench on 61 minutes with his country leading by just one goal, the Barca no.10 rolled up his socks and made up for lost time.

Five minutes after his introduction, he grabbed his first, before hitting two more 14 minutes later to give his side a big win.

The only two previous times that the Argentine star has scored a hat-trick quicker was against Mallorca (in 17 minutes) in 2011/12 and against Rayo Vallecano last campaign (in 12 minutes).

Messi’s ten-fastest hat-tricks

Of his 35 hat-tricks, ten of them have been scored in half an hour or less. Here is a look back at his ten-fastest ones:

Season	Team	Opponent	Stadium	Competition	Hat-trick time (minutes)
2014/15	Barça	Rayo Vallecano	Camp Nou	Liga	12
2011/12	Barça	Mallorca	Camp Nou	Liga	17
2015/16	Argentina	Panama	Soldier Field	Copa America	19
2009/10	Barça	Arsenal	Camp Nou	Champions League	21
2011/12	Barça	Bayer Leverkusen	Camp Nou	Champions League	24
2009/10	Barça	Valencia	Camp Nou	Liga	27
2014/15	Barça	Levante	Camp Nou	Liga	27
2010/11	Barça	Betis	Camp Nou	Copa del Rey	29
2011/12	Barça	Malaga	Camp Nou	Liga	29
2013/14	Barça	Valencia	Camp Nou	Liga	30

Messi strikes again with a free-kick

His second of his three against Panama was a delicate free-kick from all of 30 yards, demonstrating his set-piece threat once again. This past season was his best for Barça from dead balls, and his latest for his country is his eighth of the campaign. That takes his career total to 27 – 23 for Barça and 4 for Argentina

from News at FCB http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/leo-messis-third-fastest-hat-trick