Lionel Messi’s remarkable start to the season continued on Tuesday evening as the Argentina captain scored four times in Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Eibar.

After scoring a hat-trick against Espanyol last week, Messi took his tally to nine in the last four La Liga appearances and moved to a total of 301 goals scored at the Camp Nou.

A confidently struck penalty opened the scoring after 20 minutes before recent signing Paulinho further silenced his critics with a towering header.

Lionel Messi across all competitions for Barcelona in 2017:

40 games 🏃
43 goals ⚽️

Madness. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/liaENicuSa

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) September 20, 2017

Denis Suárez added a third following up a rebound from Messi’s saved shot and although Sergi Enrich pulled a goal back for Eibar, the stage belonged to the world’s best player.

An accurate finish from the edge of the box made it 4-1 and a minute later, Messi danced through the Eibar defence to slide in the fifth and complete his 39th Barcelona hat-trick.

No longer content with three, Messi exchanged passes with Aleix Vidal to slot in his fourth and complete the rout.

Despite a troublesome summer, Barcelona maintain their 100% record and for at least 24 hours go five points clear at the top of La Liga.