Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Barcelona

Lionel Messi scored his 249th league goal for Barcelona

Lionel Messi and Neymar scored within 78 seconds of each other to ensure Barcelona retained top spot in La Liga with a routine win at Rayo Vallecano.

Argentina captain Messi, 27, lobbed in the opener to move within two goals of the Spanish league goalscoring record.

Barca's lead was doubled when Brazil forward Neymar, 22, drilled a low first-time shot into the bottom corner.

Rayo had two men sent off after half-time as Barca stayed two points clear of second-placed Valencia.

Valencia had moved above the Catalan club earlier on Saturday with an eye-catching 3-1 home win against champions Atletico Madrid.

But Barca produced a confident display, albeit against a poor Rayo side, to reassume control.

Luis Enrique's team were beaten for the first time this season when they lost 3-2 at Champions League opponents Paris St-Germain on Tuesday.

The French champions made Barca's previously impregnable defence look vulnerable and Madrid-based Rayo tried to unsettle them in the early stages with high-tempo pressing.

But Barca coped with the pressure before tearing apart Rayo's dangerously high defensive line with two hopeful long balls.

Centre-back Gerard Pique's punt found Messi, who controlled the ball with his head before lifting it over goalkeeper Tono.

Barcelona's Neymar and Lionel Messi have now scored 13 La Liga goals between them this season

It was his 249th league goal for Barcelona, putting him two behind Athletic Bilbao legend Telmo Zarra, who scored 251 in the 1940s and 1950s.

And within seconds of Messi's opener, Neymar put the game beyond mid-table Rayo.

Another long ball caught out the home defence, which had conceded 10 goals in their previous six matches, allowing teenage forward Munir to slip in Neymar for his eighth strike of the season.

Messi was a constant menace as Barca comfortably controlled the match after the break but wasted a host of chances when well placed.

Rayo finished with nine men after defender Jorge Morcillo was sent off on the hour for his second bookable offence and substitute Javier Aquino followed suit in injury-time.

But it did not affect the scoreline as Barca, last season's runners-up, set a new La Liga record by keeping a clean sheet for the seventh successive game.