Ballon d’Or winner Messi scored for a ninth successive league game and then supplied Cesc Fabregas and Thiago Alcantara for the second and third goals.u00a0

Barcelona have 55 points from 19 games with 18 wins and a draw, breaking the previous mark for the halfway stage of the campaign which they set at 52 points in the 2010-11 season.u00a0