Lionel Messi made a stunning return to goalscoring form in Barcelona's rout of Eibar yesterday.

Having not scored for four La Liga games, the Argentine became the first player to rack up 1,000 goal contributions as he scored four times in a 5-0 win to take his side to the top of the table again.

As a result, Barcelona's captain cemented his place at the top of the La Liga goalscoring charts, with 18 goals, and now has 54 hat-tricks in his glittering career.

Though it seems like he's still got a few years left in the tank, there is already anticipation around his oldest son, Thiago, who currently plays in the Barcelona youth set-up.

And in an in-depth interview with Mundo Deportivo, Messi has revealed that Thiago is his biggest critic and often talks about a range of other players.

"He talks a lot about Luis [Suarez], with whom we have the best relationship, about [Antoine] Griezmann and Arturo [Vidal] since the first day because of his hair and all that.

"Also about people from outside, [Kylian] Mbappe, Cristiano [Ronaldo], Neymar.

"Yeah, Thiago knows them all, he asks questions and likes it a lot."

The Ballon d'Or holder is not immune to interrogation from Thiago after a loss though.

"It's always difficult to digest defeats and bad performances, but [my son] Thiago now forces me to comment on what happened and explain," Messi told SPORT.

"He follows everything, asks questions, and gives me notes when things are not going so well. Yes, yes, I already received a couple of criticisms!"

Messi also revealed that his second son, Mateo, is getting into football too.

"The two older ones are showing more dedication to the ball. Thiago and Mateo are the ones that understand the most.

"They come to the pitch and training sessions and are usually close to me."

Just imagine if any of his three sons can match the feats of their old man. Only time will tell.