Messi 'the best' after breaking Barcelona's all-time scoring record

Lionel Messi's hat-trick against Granada took his tally for Barcelona to 234 and past the club's previous highest scorer, Cesar Rodriguez, who notched 232. The 24-year-old secured the record with this cheeky chip.

Messi's first goal for Barca came in May 2005 against Albacete, a strike which made him the youngest goalscorer in the club's history. The record was later broken by Spain's Bojan Krkic, who is now with Italian Serie A side Roma.

The Argentine cemented his position in Barca folklore in March 2007 when he scored a hat-trick against archrivals Real Madrid in a 3-3 draw. He was the first player to score a treble in the "El Clasico" fixture since Chile's Ivan Zamarano in the 1994-95 season.

Comparisons between Messi and his legendary compatriot Diego Maradona were becoming more and more frequent. Messi made them unavoidable by scoring a goal against Getafe in a Copa del Rey semifinal which bore a startling resemblence to Maradona's famous strike against England at the 1986 World Cup.

In February 2009, Messi came off the bench to score twice as Barca rallied from behind to beat Racing Santander 2-1. His second goal was Barca's 5000th in league competition.

Messi headed the second goal as Barca comprehensively outplayed Manchester United in the 2009 European Champions League final, registering a 2-0 win in Rome.

He scored four goals in a match for the first time in his career when Barca beat Arsenal 4-1 in the second leg of their Champions League last eight match in April 2010.

Messi haunted Manchester United in a Champions League final for the second time in 2011 when he scored the second goal as Barca beat the English Champions 3-1 at Wembley. It was Barca's third European triumph in six years.

In January, Messi was crowned the FIFA Ballon d'Or winner for the third time in his career having also won the award for the world's best player in 2010 and 2011. No-one has ever won it four times.

He made Champions League history earlier in March by becoming the first player to score five goals in a single match during Barca's 7-1 demolition of German side Bayer Leverkusen.

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(CNN) -- Lionel Messi's became Barcelona's highest goalscorer of all time after his hat-trick against Granada helped the Spanish champions close on La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

The Argentina striker, who is still only 24 years old, took his tally to 234 goals for the club to overtake Cesar Rodriguez, who had a prolific spell for Barca in the 1940s and '50s.

Messi took his tally for the season to 54 in 45 games as Barca's 5-3 victory on Tuesday helped cut the gap to rivals Real to just five points.

Barca have played a game more than Real, but now the second league "El Clasico" of the season between the two clubs scheduled for April 22 looks increasingly pivotal in the title race.

"We are witnessing the best player in every sense," said Messi's coach Josep Guardiola. "He does everything, and he does it every three days.

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"I'm sorry for those that want to sit on his throne, but this lad is the best. Hopefully we can enjoy his football for many more years."

Guardiola compared Messi's dominance in football to the basketball supremacy of NBA legend Michael Jordan.

"Leo has rightfully entered into history," he said. "There are few players that dominate in this fashion, and he does it."

A recent study by Barcelona's Center of Documentation and Studies discovered that Cesar had scored 232 goals in competitive matches, not 235 as previously thought.

And Messi wasted little time in equaling Cesar's tally, with a crisp volley after Isaac Cuenca's cross had fallen to him on the right edge of the box after 17 minutes.

His opening goal made it 2-0 on the night after Messi had teed up Spain midfielder Xavi for the first after only six minutes.

But Granada -- placed 15th in the 20-team division -- stunned Barca in the second half as Diego Mainz headed a free-kick past Victor Valdes before Dani Benítez drew a foul from Dani Alves in the box and Guillherme Siqueira fired home from the penalty spot.

The visitors weren't level for long as Alves floated a ball over their defense for Messi, who controlled and lobbed Granada goalkeeper Julio Cesar to spark a prolonged round of celebrations with his teammates.

Tello added a fifth for Barca when he slotted home in the final 10 minutes after Messi had been denied by Cesar.

The gloss was removed ever so slightly from Messi's record-breaking night when Alves was sent off after conceding another penalty, converted by Siqueira, and defender Adriano was sidelined for 10 days with a leg injury.

In La Liga's other game on Tuesday, Osasuna moved into sixth place in the table despite drawing 0-0 with Getafe, who remain 11th.

Elsewhere, Juventus booked a place in the Italian Cup final after Mirko Vucinic's extra-time strike sealed a 4-3 aggregate win over AC Milan.

Leading 2-1 from the first leg, Juve edged further ahead when veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero scored on 28 minutes but Serie A leaders Milan hit back with goals from Djamel Mesbah and Maxi Lopez to force an extra half an hour.

But Vucinic's goal five minutes into the extra period settled the tie. Juve will face either Napoli or Siena in the final -- they play on Wednesday with Napoli trailing 2-1 from the first leg.

Meanwhile, Blackburn Rovers boosted their hopes of English Premier League survival with a 2-0 win over Sunderland at Ewood Park.

Striker Junior Hoilett opened the scoring with a 58th-minute volley to record his third goal in two games before a late Yakubu header sealed back-to-back wins for Rovers, who moved six points clear of the drop zone.