Guardiola: Barca must stay consistent

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola believes his squad will have to remain consistent to win La Liga.

David Villa struck twice for the Catalans - with Andres Iniesta and Pedro also on the scoresheet - as Barca thrashed Malaga 4-1 to rack up a record points total at the league's halfway stage.

After 19 games, Barca have 52 points, beating their previous record of 50 - set in Guardiola's first season in charge.

This time around, the Catalans have won 17 of their 19 league matches - including their last 13 - and have now gone unbeaten in 28 games in all competitions.

"It's an impressive total," Guardiola said after the match.

"When we got 50 points two years ago, I didn't expect us to beat that, but these players have done it - they've been outstanding."

Barca saw title rivals Real Madrid slip up at bottom-of-the-table Almeria - they drew 1-1 - earlier in the evening, meaning the league leaders will start the second half of the championship with a four-point advantage over Jose Mourinho's side.

But that, says Guardiola, means little at this stage.

"It's a ridiculous distance at this stage of the competition," he said.

"They (Madrid) dropped points today, but that could happen to us too.

"We could drop points at any ground; it could happen against Racing (Santander) next week or against Hercules.

"There is a long, long way to go and four points is nothing because Madrid are a very strong team."

Barca still have to face Madrid away from home and Guardiola is also wary of tough trips to the likes of Villarreal, Valencia and Sevilla.

"We still have to go to the Santiago Bernabeu, to Villarreal, to Valencia and Sevilla," he said.

"It will be very tough but we depend on ourselves and if we manage to play with the same intensity we have shown in the first half of the championship, we will have a great chance - it has been an extraordinary first half of the season."

Against Malaga, the Catalans were in control from the outset.

Iniesta fired the home side in front after seven minutes and goals from Villa and Pedro saw the champions go 3-0 up at the interval.

Duda reduced the deficit with a brilliant free-kick midway through the second period, but Villa made it 4-1 six minutes later.

"We played a very good first half against a good team," Guardiola said.

"We created a lot of chances and we need to keep competing like that in every game."

After the match, Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta confirmed defender Gabi Milito - who had been expected to sign for Malaga on loan - will be staying at the Catalan club.

"It's a great piece of news," Guardiola said.

"He wants to play, but he is getting stronger all the time after his injury and we will help him - he has so much to give."

Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini, who refused to discuss his club's frustrated move for Milito, was philosophical in defeat.

"It's difficult to take anything positive out of a 4-1 defeat," he said.

"Our objective is to move up the table, but we came up against a very strong team tonight."

Despite losing 4-1, Malaga did better than Pellegrini's former side Madrid, who went down 5-0 here in December.

But that, the Chilean said, was no consolation at all.

"I'm at Malaga now and focused on this club. We lost 4-1 and that is disappointing enough. What other teams do does not concern me."

Pellegrini's Madrid lost out by three points last year to Barca, but the Chilean believes the gulf in class between the big two remains large, despite his former club's recruitment of Mourinho.

"The difference (between Barca and the rest) is still important," he said.