Barcelona boss Luis Enrique was full of praise for his side’s ruthless streak in their 8-0 thrashing of hapless Cordoba.

– Premier League: WBA topple Man United, Newcasle lose again
– La Liga: Barcelona show ruthless streak in 8-0 win over Cordoba
– #Quiz360: Saturday – WIN Real Madrid 2014/15 shirt

It was the joint highest away win in the club’s history – the same scoreline they achieved against Almeria in 2010 and Las Palmas in 1959 – and leaves Enrique’s men three more victories away from securing the La Liga title.

Before then, however, they have the considerable matter of a Champions League semi-final meeting with Bayern Munich and ex-boss Pep Guardiola, with the first leg taking place at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night.

Enrique could hardly have asked for anything more from his team ahead of that titanic battle: in addition to Saturday’s 8-0 win, Barca have warmed up for their Guardiola reunion with a 2-0 local derby victory at Espanyol and a 6-0 walloping of Getafe in the last seven days.

And the Barca chief was perfectly pleased with everything he had seen on Saturday, saying: “Our level of effectiveness was very high. I am very happy – they are three key points.

“At first the ball wouldn’t go in even though we were creating chances, but the first and second goals made us calm.”

Enrique conceded his team had adopted a merciless approach to the game, piling on the goals in the second half even though demoralised Cordoba were heading towards a defeat which they knew would seal their relegation.

The Barca boss made no excuses for his team’s brutal exploitation of their opponents’ weaknesses, saying: “If we want to be champions we have to do our job, irrespective of who we are playing or where.

“Against Cordoba we did our job. They were in a tough situation but that’s football.”

Enrique, who had selected the starting eleven that many people would regard as his strongest team, also moved to calm concerns over left-back Jordi Alba, who was struggling with an injury in the latter stages of the contest.

“He has hurt his right foot but it’s nothing more than a typical problem at the end of a game,” he added.