BARCELONA, November 22- Lionel Messi broke Telmo Zarra’s 59-year-old record as the leading goalscorer in the history of La Liga with a stunning hat-trick against Sevilla on Saturday.
The Argentine opened the scoring with a trademark free-kick to match Zarra’s mark of 251 goals in his 289th La Liga appearance.
He then slid in to convert Neymar’s pass to set the new record mark for his side’s fourth of the evening and rounded off a special night with a low left-footed effort to seal his hat-trick.
Messi was thrown into the air by this teammates as they celebrated the record in front of over 78,000 fans at the Camp Nou.
Legendary Basque striker Zarra scored his 251 goals for Athletic Bilbao during a 15-year career from 1940 to 1955.
Barcelona romped into a 5-1 victory.