A 27-year-old Spanish record set by Real Madrid was broken by Barcelona, Thursday. Real Madrid held the record for the most number of unbeaten games (34), and now Barcelona have trumped them by staying unbeaten in 35 straight matches courtesy a a 5-1 thrashing of Rayo Vallecano.
By doing that, Barcelona also went eight points clear at the top of the La Liga points table. The kind of form Barcelona are in at the moment, they look like defending their La Liga title, with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid left to fight for second place.
Lionel Messi scored his 35th hat-trick for the club Thursday against Rayo Vallecano. Ivan Rakitic and Arda Turan scored the other two goals to complete the rout.
Rakitic opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 22nd minute of the game, after the Vallecano goalkeeper Juan Carlos Martin Corral spilled the ball.
Two minutes later Messi scored from Neymar's cross.
Rayo were down to 10 men after Diego Llorente saw a straight red for a high boot on Rakitic in the 41st minute of the game. Barcelona took advantage of that situation in the second half.
Luis Suarez's shot from distance struck the woodwork and landed on Messi's feet, and the superstar did not make any mistake to extend Barcelona's lead to three goals.
The hosts pulled one back with the help of Manucho. However, a few minutes later Sergio Busquets was fouled inside the penalty box and defender Manuel Iturra saw another red, leaving Vallecano down to nine men.
In the meantime, Suarez stepped up to take the penalty. Surprisingly, the goalkeeper made up for his previous errors as he saved the ball from finding the back of the net.
Messi netted his third in the match in the 72nd minute and Arda Turan scored another in the 86th minute to pile on to Vallecano's miseries.
"We have to wait and see what we can achieve and how much we deserve it. The best has yet to come, the nicest part," Barcelona manager Luis Enrique was quoted as saying by the official website of the club.
"I liked it a lot. We went into the game in the best possible way, with the right attitude. We created occasions and I never felt that the game was in danger. When this team plays that well and that intensely, then we're very difficult to stop."
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