VIDEOS: Lionel Messi helps himself to hat trick against troubled Valencia

Barcelona star Lionel Messi poured more misery on beleaguered Valencia boss Gary Neville on Wednesday, recording a hat trick in his side's first leg of its Copa del Rey semifinal meeting with Los Che.

The diminutive Ballon d'Or winner neatly prodded the ball beyond Maty Ryan for his first and Barca's third on 29 minutes:

With Valencia reeling from the dismissal of Shkodran Mustafi, Messi received a neat assist from Luis Suarez and passed by two Valencia defenders with ease before slotting home for his second:

To complete the treble, Messi capitalised on the defence's inability to clear the ball and blasted it under Ryan:

With Suarez bagging four goals in the tie, Barcelona strolled to a 7-0 victory leaving the second leg on Feb. 10 looking nothing more than a formality.