50 points at the half way stage in the league

Xavi's Barça side are moving forward quickly. After 19 games in La Liga, the blaugranes now have 50 points and could be on course for a century after winning 16 matches, drawing two and losing just once. 

The first half of the league season has been exceptional despite kicking off the campaign with a goalless draw at home to Rayo Vallecano. After that the team put together a run of seven wins in a row, conceding just once. The only defeat so far came at the Santiago Bernabéu in a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid. Another run of five wins came, again conceding just once, before the enforced break for the World Cup. 

Since the return to league and a draw with Espanyol, a perfect January saw four wins a row without conceding before February's win at Betis. 

Barça, kings of the first half of the season

Getting to 50 points in half a season is no small feat. FC Barcelona is the only club to have achieved the feat. In the last 15 years they have done it now on six occasions: under Pep Guardiola twice, in 2008/09 (50 points) and 2010/11 (52 points); Tito Vilanova in 2012/13 (55 points); Tata Martino in 2013/14 (50 points); Ernesto Valverde in 2017/18 (51 points) and now with Xavi Hernández. 

Six wins in a row in the Villamarín

The 2-1 win over Betis now means that the blaugranes have won six matches in the Benito Villmarín, the first visiting side to do so.