Barcelona wrapped up the league title in Ernesto Valverde’s first season as manager with a Lionel Messi-inspired victory over Deportivo La Coruna.
Messi scored a hat-trick at the Riazor to give Barca an unassailable lead at the top of the table.
The Argentine set another record in his glittering Barcelona career by becoming the first player to score 30 goals or more in seven different seasons in La Liga.
Barcelona had led 2-0 with goals from Philippe Coutinho and Messi but Depor fought back to 2-2 with strikes from Lucas Perez and Emre Colak.
Messi then struck twice in the final 10 minutes to seal the win.
This is the 25th time Barcelona have won La Liga – eight behind the 33 won by rivals Real Madrid. They are only four games from an unbeaten La Liga season.
The treble in the Riazor took Messi ahead of Mohamed Salah in the race to win the Golden Shoe as he is now on 32 league goals for the season, compared to the Liverpool forward’s tally of 31.
The first time Messi struck 30 goals in a season in La Liga was during the 2009-10 campaign and he passed that milestone again in the following three years.
In 2011-12, Messi struck an incredible 50 goals in La Liga and came close to repeating the feat in 2012-13 when he netted 46 times.
He just missed out on the 30-goal mark in 2013-14, but was back averaging more than a goal per game in La Liga in 2014-15 when he rattled in 43 goals in 38 appearances.
Last season, the 30-year-old netted 37 goals in 32 outings in the league and he has now reached the 30-goal mark again with his effort against Deportivo.
