-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Lionel Messi has been hailed as the greatest soccer player the world has ever seen following his extraordinary exploits for European champions Barcelona . The 22-year-old has scored 10 goals in his past four games , including two hat-tricks in consecutive Spanish league matches . The diminutive Argentina forward has kept Barcelona in the hunt for a second successive La Liga title , and his two goals against Stuttgart last Wednesday helped put the Champions League titleholders into the quarterfinals of Europe 's premier club competition . Blog : Is Messi better than Maradona ? Sunday 's treble against Zaragoza was his third this season , and his fifth since making his debut in 2004 , taking him to 25 league goals this campaign -- five more than closest rival Gonzalo Higuain of Real Madrid , and two past his tally from last season with 11 games still to play . Messi is now third on Barcelona 's all-time scoring list , and has the chance to net his 200th goal for the club in Wednesday 's league game against Osasuna . After the Zaragoza game , Barcelona president Joan Laporta compared Messi -- who was named 2009 's best player in the world -- with the club 's legendary former stars Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff . `` He 's the best player in the world right now and the best ever , '' Laporta told Barcelona 's Web site . `` Together with Cruyff and Maradona , he 's the best we 've seen at the club . `` He 's a player who can change everything in a game , but he also works for the rest of the team . He 's a real leader . '' Coach Pep Guardiola said he had run out of superlatives to describe the performances of Messi , who has scored 11 of Barcelona 's last 15 goals . `` He 's been more than decisive , and you can tell he 's feeling fit the way he gets involved in everything . I 've run out of adjectives -- you 'll have to put your own , '' Guardiola said . `` That he 's capable of doing everything that he does at his age is something impressive . It does n't make any sense . '' Guardiola revealed that Messi had been in doubt for the Zaragoza game due to a gum infection in his mouth . `` He was in a lot of pain . But in the morning I asked him how he was and he told me that he was better . Before the game I asked if he wanted to play and he said yes , I asked him how many minutes and he told me the whole game , '' Guardiola told reporters . `` He always wants to play , whether it 's the Champions League final or against a third-division side . For me it 's difficult to leave him out , seeing the form he 's in . He 's an amateur in this sense , he always wants to play . '' Messi has not always carried his amazing club form onto the international stage with Argentina , but he has the chance to redress that situation in June at the World Cup in South Africa . `` The person who most wants to see him succeed for Argentina is Messi himself , nobody should doubt that , '' Guardiola said .