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After setting a Spanish record 35 matches unbeaten in all competitions, Barcelona coach Luis Enrique is relishing the run-in to the end of the season with his side on course for a second successive La Liga, King's Cup and Champions League treble.
Barcelona visit Eibar on Sunday (1500 GMT) with an eight-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top of standings with 11 matches to go.
They take a 2-0 lead into the home leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Arsenal next week and face Sevilla in the King's Cup final on May 22.
For Luis Enrique, all the hard work during the season had brought them to this point.
“Now is when the nicest part of the season starts, you are where you wanted from the beginning, fighting for titles,” Luis Enrique said after Thursday’s 5-1 away win over Rayo Vallecano.
“Then we must see what we achieve. For now, I’m pleased with how the season has progressed, all the work that has brought us here.
“(There is) attitude, intensity and finishing. When Barca manages to be like that you create danger from the first minute and it’s hard to stop them,” he told reporters.
His prolific front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have scored a combined 62 goals in La Liga after Messi notched a hat-trick on Thursday.
But what will certainly worry Enrique will be the team’s low success rate at converting penalties.
During Thursday night’s match, Rayo lost defender Diego Llorente to a red card three minutes before halftime for a foul on Ivan Rakitic before Manuel Iturra was also sent off in the 67th for bringing down Sergio Busquets in the area.
Busquets was felled from behind going for the rebound after a Messi free-kick came back off the bar but Luis Suarez's penalty was saved by Juan Carlos, Barcelona's ninth miss from 18 penalties in all competitions this season.
"It's a strange situation (missing penalties)," the Catalan side's midfield general Andres Iniesta said.
"We mustn't let it bother us while everything is working as well as it is.
"The reasons are many (to explain) why the team continues in this positive dynamic (but) the league isn't over, there are lots of points still to take," he was quoted as saying on the As website (www.as.com).
