The Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo competition reached even greater heights this past weekend as both players continued to showcase their talents in the battle to be the best.

The Ballon d'Or is no longer at stake at this point (votes are in), but that has not stopped the two best attacking soccer players in the world from wanting to show off their powerful play.

During the last few weekends, it has been all about Messi. The Argentine broke two straight records in high scoring fashion before disappearing in a recent Spanish league tilt. But while Messi was breaking records, Ronaldo's playmaking seemed to reach new heights as he found ways to set up teammates for goals instead of finishing attacks on his own.

So what did the latest batch of games bring for the superstars?

It seems that when Messi says something, Ronaldo is ready to respond. Everyone kept talking about Messi breaking this record and that one in two separate games. So how does the Portuguese superstar respond?

He broke two records in one game with the same goal. Entering the match, the superstar had 197 goals in the Spanish League in 177 matches. Real Madrid was not playing its best and he managed to get a dubious penalty call. He scored without any trouble. Then he added a second off a tremendous volley in the penalty area. Now he was at 199 in 178.

And then he added a third goal off a terrific low cross from Marcelo. That made it 200 goals in 178, making him the faster player to reach that scoring total. That's right, Ronaldo scored more goals at a quicker pace than his long-time rival. How long did it take Messi to hit the double century mark? 235 games! Other players Ronaldo topped include Alfredo Di Stefano (250 games) and Telmo Zarra (219 games).

But that third goal was important for another reason. It was Ronaldo's 23rd hat trick in the Spanish League, making him the sole possessor of the record for the most triple goal games in the domestic league. Ronaldo had previously been tied with Zarra and Di Stefano on 22. How many does Messi, who has played over four Spanish League seasons more than Ronaldo, have? Twenty-one hat tricks.

Moreover, it was Ronaldo's fourth hat trick of the season in just 14 matches and he now has a grand total of 23 goals in the Spanish league. Barcelona's trio of Luis Suarez, Messi and Neymar has a total of 24.

So how does Messi respond?

The superstar admittedly had a poor game against Valencia last week and looked to be on a mission to rectify everything. He has seemingly returned to his spot closer to the front of Barcelona's attack and has looked lethal from the position. This has resulted in a lot more goals, including two hat tricks in the last three games. Well, make that three hat tricks in four games, as the superstar added his 21st Spanish League triple goal game against Espanyol.

This is Messi's third hat trick of the season, putting him just one behind his rival. Moreover, the three goals now give Messi a total of 13 goals in the domestic league. He would have had four if he had not hit the post on one chance. But Messi did not only score three of his team's five tallies. He also connected on 88 percent of his passes and had a lot more touches than his rival did in the match.

That said, Ronaldo connected on 83 percent of his passes while seeing less of the ball. Part of that was that his side was playing a poor game overall, emphasizing that he was doing more with less.

Winner

This is truly difficult to pick.

One player set two records with a trio of goals, while the other responded with his own trio of goals. It really comes down to this: how were the goals scored?

Ronaldo's first was off a questionable penalty while Messi's first was a tremendous blast that had an unreal curve on it. Advantage: Messi. The second goal for Ronaldo was a terrific volley from the Portuguese, while the second saw Messi dribble past one defender and fire a long range. Both hugely impressive, but Ronaldo's skill gets a slight nod. The third goal from Ronaldo was a nice one-time blast off of Marcelo's low cross. Well-timed and well-struck. Messi's third was also a one-time blast around the same area in the box from a low cross from Pedro, who was closer to Messi on a quick counter. However, Messi created that counter by beating a defender in the middle of the pitch and dishing it off to Pedro with a through ball. So, Messi was slightly more involved in his third goal than Ronaldo and gets the slight edge.

Messi wins again and suddenly is behind 7-5 in this weekly feature.

For last week's edition of "Messi vs. Ronaldo," click here.