Messi & record-breaking Barca still making La Liga look easy

It is sometimes said in sport that the masters make the most difficult things seem easy. That is what Barcelona and Lionel Messi have been doing for some time in La Liga and together, they are strolling towards a sixth title in eight seasons. It appears almost effortless.

On Thursday night, Barca beat Rayo Vallecano 5-1 to take another step towards the title that is theirs barring an upset of preposterous proportions and racked up their 35th consecutive match without defeat to set a new Spanish record in the process.

That run started with a 5-2 win over Rayo in October and has rarely looked in danger since. In that time, last season's treble winners have won 29 matches and drawn six to better the mark set by Leo Beenhakker's Real Madrid side in 1988-89.

For Barca fans, however, there is only one Leo and their Argentine attacker played a pivotal part in this latest victory with a hat-trick after Ivan Rakitic had capitalised on an awful mistake by Rayo goalkeeper Juan Carlos to give Barca the lead.

Following the Croat's opener, it was all too easy - especially once Rayo were reduced to 10 men and later nine, paying the price for the added aggression as they tried in vain to keep pace with Luis Enrique's superb side. But Messi made it simple. In the right place at the right time and coolly clinical in front of goal, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner left his mark in Madrid once more.

Barca had hit 45 past Rayo in the teams' previous 10 meetings and added another five in this one, with Arda Turan heading home his first goal in Barca colours to round off a satisfactory night's work for the league leaders. Luis Suarez also saw a penalty saved as the Catalans' recent spot-kick woes continued - not that it really mattered anyway.

The win means the Blaugrana remain eight clear of Atletico at the top of the table and 12 ahead of Real Madrid. Those two teams are the only other champions of Spain since 2008-09 with a title apiece: Real in 2011-12 and Atleti in 2013-14. But the trophy will almost certainly not be returning to the capital in May and Barca's dominance could continue for some time on this evidence.

In Europe, it is something of a different story, with several sides having stopped the Catalans in recent seasons - including Atletico, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

On current form, however, Barca are favourites to become the first side since AC Milan in the old European Cup to successfully defend their continental crown. First, of course, they will need to see off Arsenal in the sides' last-16 second-leg match (the Catalans are 2-0 up after the first game in London), while tougher tests will await in the latter rounds.

Luis Enrique's men are also just one game away from retaining the Copa del Rey and meet Sevilla (the last team to beat them) in the final at the Vicente Calderon in May. And having gone unbeaten for 35 games, it is clearly going to take either a very bad day or something seriously special to stop them.

"We know it's always tough to face Rayo," Luis Enrique said graciously after the game. "We started the game as we wanted to, with intensity." And he added: "The best part of the season is coming up now. That is what we have fought for the whole season."

The Barca boss had already said in the build-up to the match that records mean little. This one will mean more to the fans perhaps, especially as it betters a historical Madrid mark, but what matters most are titles and at the moment, led by the magnificent Messi, the Blaugrana are winning them with a composure and comfort that will force their rivals at home and abroad to think long and hard about how to beat them.

Because nobody has managed that now since October 3 and in La Liga at least, nobody looks likely to do so any time soon.