Just one month into the season and Lionel Messi is already in a league of his own.

Redeployed in his old false nine role by Ernesto Valverde, the Argentinian has been rattling home the goals. His weekend hat-trick against Espanyol took his record to five strikes in three league games so far.

The man himself didn’t take his foot off the gas for Juventus, either.

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It was well documented that Messi had never scored against Gianluigi Buffon but Barcelona’s star man is no stranger to breaking records.

Latching onto a Luis Suarez flick just before half time, Messi took just two touches to provide an inch-perfect finish into the bottom corner. Buffon could only stand statuesque as his adversary finally got the better of him.

It saw Barcelona put their stamp onto a game that had been tightly contested.

Messi then proceeded to help double his side’s lead with a mazy run to turn provider for Ivan Rakitic. He then bagged another of his own with a simply mesmeric run to put Barca out of sight.

In amongst all the action, though, the 30-year-old produced a rather more awkward moment.

After Barcelona won a free-kick, Messi approached the referee, holding an imaginary yellow card to indicate that Miralem Pjanic should have been booked.

It’s fair to say the referee didn’t take the gesture well and proceeded to caution Messi, citing the gesture as the reason for it. A gaggle of Barcelona player surrounded the official in vein.

Check out the funny moment below:

Nevertheless, when you consider the nature of Messi’s overall performance, his slip of discipline proves mere trivia.

Besides, things could have been worse, he could have pushed the referee. But, as Ronaldo knows all too well, that would bring much more than a yellow card.

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