There’s nothing Barcelona soccer fans like more than seeing their soccer team one-upping their arch rivals Real Madrid. This meant they celebrated on Thursday, March 3rd when Barcelona set a new national record of going 35 games without a loss in all competitions. The old mark of 34 was held by Real Madrid. Barcelona set the new record with a 5-1 away victory over Rayo Vallecano in a Spanish La Liga match for the team’s 10th victory in a row. Fans are now calling this year’s squad the best ever in Barcelona’s long and storied history. Argentine international striker Lionel Messi led the way in the record-setting fixture by scoring a hat-trick while Arda Turan and Ivan Rakitic netted the other goals.

Real Madrid set the previous record of 34 games during the 1988/89 campaign and it stood the test of time for 27 years. Barcelona and Real Madrid have dominated Spanish soccer for many decades now with each club winning numerous titles, domestic cups, and European championships. The last time Barcelona was beaten was back on October 3rd of last year when they dropped a 2-1 decision on the road at the hands of Sevilla. During the 35-match streak, which was extended to 36 on March 5th with a 4-0 road win at Eibar, manager Luis Enrique and his players managed to win 30 of the games and drew the other six.

Barcelona drew level with Real Madrid at 34 games without a loss by launching a comeback against Sevilla four days earlier to beat them 2-1. But even though he’s proud of the new record, manager Enrique claimed that it won’t really mean anything at the end of the season if his club doesn’t win the league title and other silverware. Barcelona won a treble last year by capturing the La Liga crown as well as the Spanish Cup (Copa Del Rey) and the European Champions League and there’s a good chance they can repeat that feat again this season.

As of March 6th, Barcelona had a record of 23 wins, three draws and two losses in the Primera Division of the La Liga and had an 11-point lead over second-place and was 12 points up on Real Madrid. They had also scored 78 goals and allowed just 22 against The team has also reached the final of the Copa Del Rey against Sevilla and are one game up on Arsenal of the English Premier League in the Champions League round-of-16 knockout stage.