Iniesta and Messi run riot against Athletic Club

The match that confirmed the best start in the history of La Liga was a relatively placid but hard-fought win over Athletic Club. Barça’s two FIFA Ballon d’Or finalists pulled the strings for the home team as Barça treated the Camp Nou faithful to a spectacular performance on a cold Barcelona night.

The men led by Marcelo Bielsa started the match with the intention to battle for the three points. However, after the first ten minutes and with Andrés Iniesta running loose in Los Leones’ area, the visiting team knew it was going to be a long night.

Iniesta was driving Barça’s attack with a wide array of excellent passes, dribbles and vision of the pitch. In fact, the midfield maestro assisted both Leo Messi and Cesc Fàbregas.

Messi continued his quest to equal Gerd Müller’s all-time high goalscoring record. The Argentine’s now scored in six consecutive matches, and tonight was his 350th official match for FC Barcelona. In addition, he now has 20 goals this season in La Liga, and he’s only one goal adrift of Der Bomber’s mark.

The Argentine has six games left in 2012 to equal or surpass the historic mark of 85 goals set by the German in 1972.

Andoni Zubizarreta, football director for Barça, admitted that the match shows “Barça’s good teamwork” against an Athletic Club that pressured “high up the pitch.”