Lionel Messi did it again at the weekend in La Liga. He scored his 51st career hat-trick, which included a delicate lob over Real Betis goalkeeper Pau Lopez to round it off. Real Betis fans in the Benito Villamarin stadium serenaded his name in awe. He was so good that the Spanish sports newspaper Diario AS awarded him four stars out of three in its match summary. Still, though, he didn't make the cover image on its Monday morning edition.
It took something special to shove Messi off the front cover: a new world record. A few hours before Messi was wreaking havoc in Seville on Sunday, the women's football league in Spain, Liga Femenina Iberdrola, broke the record for attendance at a club game.