It was a night for the record books, as Leo Messi surpassed 200 goals in a Barcelona uniform, scoring a hat-trick in route to a commanding 4-0 victory against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League.

The result sees Barcelona through to the knockout rounds of Europe’s premiere club competition with two games left to play in the group stages.

Guardiola’s decision to rotate players saw several unexpected names take the pitch for the opening whistle. Xavi, Iniesta and David Villa were relegated to the bench, while the likes of Thiago and Fabregas dictated the midfield. Barcelona’s ideal defense took shape for the first time all season, with Alves and Abidal complimenting center-back tandem Pique-Puyol. A forward line of Leo Messi, Adriano and Isaac Cuenca, making his third consecutive start, took the pitch in search of goals and classification to the next round.

Despite the final score-line, Barcelona struggled to control the game in the early goings. Viktoria came out inspired, seeking a fast-paced mayhem to disrupt Barca’s style of play. Their physical, aggressive approach stifled the Catalans in the opening minutes, with chances coming few and far between.

Plzen nearly took the early lead when Milan Petrzela broke free in midfield, racing past the Barcelona defense and planting himself one vs. one with Victor Valdes. But the Catalan keeper did well, coming off his line, closing the angle and diving right to parry away the strike.

Viktoria would rue the missed chance when the match was turned on its head in the 22nd minute, as Leo Messi worked his way into the box, cut left and had his legs taken out by the last defender, Marian Cisovski. The referee reached for his pocket, producing a red card and awarding the penalty.

Messi walked to the spot, smiled and fired it into the bottom right corner, catching the keeper wrong footed. The goal gave Barca the lead and Leo his 200th career goal for the club.

With Plzen reduced to ten, the match became one-way traffic. Pavlik produced a fine save from Messi before 20-year old Isaac Cuenca curled an effort just wide of the post. Messi would test the keeper again with a left footed strike from the edge of the box, but Pavlik stayed strong, parrying away the shot.

With the halftime whistle looming, Messi would produce his second goal, exchanging a quick one-two with Adriano before sliding a left footed finish past Pavlik into the bottom left corner.

The second half kicked off with Fabregas’ chip drifting inches wide after being put through by Leo Messi. Rajtoral’s last ditch tackle denied Messi a tap-in moments later after a clever interchange between the Argentine and Fabregas.

In the 49th minute Dani Alves was shown a yellow card for his marginal challenge on Daniel Kolar, giving him three in the group stages. As such, the Brazilian will receive a one-match ban, preventing him from playing Barcelona’s next group stage match against AC Milan in the San Siro.

Both sides would come painfully close to netting in the 66th minute, but the score-line miraculously stayed at 2-0. First Petrzela missed a gilded edge chance, volleying a superb cross from teammate Daniel Kolar into the side netting with Valdes beat far post. On the next attack, Thiago connected on Messi’s cross, elevating high and crashing his header off the crossbar.

In the end, it was Fabregas who would steal the third goal when, in the 72nd minute, he found himself unmarked in the area to nod home a fantastic cross from Issac Cuenca. It was Fabregas’ first goal since returning from injury and another brilliant bit of play from Cuenca, as the youngster continues to make the most of his opportunities.

With the points assured, Guardiola handed forward Alexis Sanchez his first minutes since being sidelined by a hamstring injury two months ago, entering the game for defender Eric Abidal. The Chilean would test Pavlik late in the match, sending a low cross-shot across goal, but the Czech keeper smothered the ball, spoiling his return.

Messi would end the night with a bang, completing his hat-trick in the 92nd minute when he ran onto a back-heel pass from center-back Gerard Pique, rounded the keeper and slotted home.

The hat-trick gives Messi six goals in his last two matches, 22 in 17 games this season, 51 goals in 2011, and 202 in the 286 games he has played for Barcelona. The latest treble sees Leo boast 14 career hat-tricks, with two coming in the Champions League. His 42 Champions League goals are already ninth on the all time scoring list.

He is, quite simply, aggression in its most elegant form.

On Pep Guardiola’s historic 200th game as Barcelona manager, the team may be in the finest form of his tenure, having outscored their opponents 26-0 in the past nine matches.

Victor Valdes, in addition to recording his ninth consecutive clean sheet, surpasses the club scoreless streak record, breaking Miguel Reina’s mark of 824 minutes dating back to the 1972-1973 season. He has now gone 877 minutes without conceding a goal, with the majority of those minutes coming in games where Barcelona fielded a makeshift backline.

Defending champions Barcelona (3-0-1) lead Group H with 10 points, two above closest rivals AC Milan.

Let the good times roll.

Article written by Barcaloco contributor Anson Woodring.  Follow Anson on Twitter at @ansonwoodring.

Full match highlights:

Viktoria Plzen – Barcelona Highlights 01.11.2011 by iNfRaS0NiC