Luis Enrique's Barcelona have equalled a club record set by Pep Guardiola as Sunday's 2-0 victory at Levante made it 28 games unbeaten for the Catalans.
The Bayern Munich boss, who joins Manchester City in the summer, had made history back in the 2010-11 season as his Barca side went almost 30 matches without losing before finally coming unstuck against Real Betis in the Copa del Rey in January 2011.
[STATS] All the stats from Barça's 2-0 win away at Levante #LevanteFCB #FCBlive https://t.co/r9RVeeMpcK pic.twitter.com/kqsJcZNEGL
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 7, 2016
And the record has now been equalled by Enrique, who took charge of his 100th match as head coach of the Champions League holders in Sunday's meeting with Levante, with a David Navarro own goal and Luis Suarez strike sealing a 2-0 win for the Catalans.
The win gave Barca sole possession of first place in La Liga although they were far from their best in the early kickoff match, a Daniel Navarro own goal and a late Luis Suarez goal giving them just enough to defeat last-place Levante at Ciutat de Valencia.
After that own goal started the Catalans on the way, they ground out the result while looking far from in their usual command. Lethargic on attack and sometimes a step slow, Barcelona was there for the taking but Levante lacked the quality to take full advantage of the visitors' off day.
Barcelona now leads Atletico Madrid by three points in the La Liga race. They have a match in hand, against Sporting Gijon on Feb. 17, which offers a further opportunity to expand the gap. Real Madrid, which plays later Sunday at Granada, is seven points off the pace.
Levante, which will finish the weekend at least five points away from safety in the cluttered race to avoid relegation, did not look like a tail-ender against their vaunted rivals. Instead they played with a certain reckless abandon, finding gaps in the Barcelona defense and might well have gotten something better out of the midday match.
There was little sign of danger in the 21st minute when Andres Iniesta slipped Jordi Alba in on the left and Alba was looking simply to create something for his strikers when his cross struck Navarro in the backside as the defender tried to take evasive action. The ball deflected into the Levante net.
Luis Suarez had a header fly just past the near post from a Neymar cross but the chances were Levante's before the break. The best of them fell to Jose Luis Morales in the 38th minute when he beat Claudio Bravo only to see his shot hit the far right post.
Acosta Dyverson and Jefferson Lerma also had opportunities for the home side when they stretched the Barcelona defense, but neither could find the range from decent looks, while Giuseppe Rossi brought a good, diving reaction save from Bravo early in the second half.
Barcelona was comfortable enough down the stretch without ever raising the pace enough to find another goal until Lionel Messi opened the way for Suarez to fire into the top right corner in stoppage time. It made the final scoreline look far better than it actually was.
Material from Goal.com was used in this report
