Lionel Messi's record vs. Levante

Barcelona will continue their bid for a fifth successive Copa del Rey title when they take on Levante in the first leg of their last-16 clash on Thursday night.

Ernesto Valverde's side are well on course for another league and cup double, having extended their advantage at the top of the table to five points at the weekend.

It is now nine games unbeaten across all competitions for the Spanish champions, and they will once again be favourites to emerge victorious having won 5-0 at this very ground less than a month ago.

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick in that rout and boasts a typically phenomenal record against Thursday's opponents.

Here, Sports Mole delves a little deeper into how the Argentine has fared against Levante in the past.

For Messi to have an outstanding record against a particular opponent is nothing out of the ordinary, but even by his standards directly contributing to 35 goals in just 17 appearances against Levante is special.

The Barca skipper has scored in 11 of his last 13 league meetings with Levante, including two hat-tricks and four braces in that time.

The only previous occasion on which he has faced Levante in the Copa del Rey came in the 2013-14 quarter-finals when he did not manage to get on the scoresheet, although he did rack up three assists in a 4-1 win.

Messi has scored nine goals in nine previous visits to the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia, including a hat-trick as recently as December during their league visit to the stadium, assisting the other two goals in a 5-0 demolition.

Indeed, Messi has both scored and assisted at least one goal in nine different matches against Levante and has never been on the losing side in his 17 previous games against their cup opponents.