The match rightly belonged to Andrés Iniesta but Lionel Messi and his Barcelona teammates produced a masterclass to thrash Sevilla and lift the Copa del Rey for the fourth consecutive year in Atlético Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

After the bitter disappointment of defeat to Roma in the Champions League, Ernesto Valverde needed a response from his side and he got that against a pitiful Sevilla side, that were never really in the game.

Messi had already gone close with a trademark free-kick when Luis Suárez tapped in the opening goal from Philippe Coutinho’s cut back and after Iniesta rattled the crossbar, Messi got his goal. Jordi Alba’s clever back heel found Messi and the Argentinian made no mistake in rifling the ball into the roof of the net.

With the goal, Messi levelled Telmo Zarra’s 68-year-old record by scoring in five different Copa del Rey finals and also took the world’s best player to 40 for the season, an astonishing figure that Messi has now managed for nine consecutive seasons.

5 – Lionel Messi is the second player in Copa del Rey history to score in five different finals (six goals). The first player to achieve this feat was Telmo Zarra between 1942 and 1950 (eight goals). Emperor. pic.twitter.com/Y3RV6YzuyD

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) April 21, 2018

Messi then slipped Suárez in for the third, meaning the iconic number ten is the first player to assist in three consecutive Copa del Rey finals in the 21st century.

And when Messi rolled the ball in for Iniesta to squeeze in a fourth the celebrations really began.

Coutinho’s penalty sealed the win and Barça celebrated a first trophy under Valverde. The treble that they had been chasing may have gone but a league-cup double is all but guaranteed and Barcelona have secured both achievements with the utmost ease.