Barcelona set a Spanish record of 35 matches unbeaten in all competitions with a huge 5-1 win over Rayo Vallecano in the La Liga and Lionel Messi also scored his 35th hat-trick in the same game.
The earlier record was incidentally held by Real Madrid – set in the 1988 – 89 season.
That’s two reasons now for Ronaldo to look even more gloomy.
Rayo made it hopelessly easy for Barcelona by getting reduced to 9 men by the 67th minute.
Defender Diego Llorente got his marching orders three minutes before halftime for a foul on Rakitic and this he was followed by Manuel Iturra who got sent off in the 67th minute for bringing down Sergio Busquets in the area.
Luis Suarez missed a penalty and that became Barcelona’s ninth miss from 18 penalties in all competitions this season- which seems to be a bit on the high side.
After the celebrations were over Luis Enrique sent a memo to the team to tighten up on the penalty taking.