Messi's master-class inspires Barcelona to Copa del Rey title

Star striker Lionel Messi produced yet another master-class as Luis Enrique's Barcelona reign ended with a trophy as he inspired a third consecutive Copa del Rey title with a 3-1 final win over Deportivo Alaves at Vicente Calderon on Saturday.

Messi opened the scoring for Barcelona with his 54th goal of the season in the 30th minute of the game. However, three minutes later, Theo Hernandez's brilliant free-kick briefly brought Deportivo Alaves level into the match.

The Argentine then helped Neymar and Paco Alcacer to score towards the end of the first half to lead his side to a record 29th Cup triumph.

In stark contrast to Barca's glorious run of six finals in seven years, Alaves were appearing in Spanish football's showpiece for the first time.

Messi kicked off a thrilling four-goal spell in the final 15 minutes of the half as he exchanged passes with Neymar before curling his 54th goal of the season.

However, Barca's initial lead only lasted three minutes.

Left-back, 19-year-old Hernandez curled in a free-kick into the top corner to level scores.

Messi was involved once more when Barca did regain the lead as he received Neymar's pass before playing in Gomes and the Portuguese's low cross was tapped home by Neymar at the back post as he scored for the third consecutive season in the Cup final.

Barca then put the game to bed in first-half stoppage time when Messi again pulled the Alaves defence apart and his reverse pass freed Alcacer to smash the ball beyond Pacheco into the far corner.

Alaves battled bravely as the second period wore on, but any hope of a fightback was extinguished by the offside flag when Deyverson fired home from close range 20 minutes from time.

Barca, who had a rather disappointing season, managed to restore some pride with victory over last season's second division champions in what was the final match to be played at Atletico Madrid's Vicente Calderon Stadium.

Victory means Enrique bows out after three seasons in charge with nine trophies to his name, including the Cup in every year of his reign.

Manager Enrique had announced his planned departure from CampNou at the start of March, with his side then falling short of rivals Real Madrid in La Liga and Juventus in the Champions League.

The Barca coach bows out after three seasons in charge with nine trophies to his name.