Lionel Messi had a go at Ivan Rakitic during Barcelona's win over Girona

Many feared for Barcelona after they went down 5-1 to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup last month.

Neymar had just left the Camp Nou and Luis Suarez sustained an injury in the second leg.

The presence of Lionel Messi kept the situation from appearing too bleak, however, and Barcelona have responded to that thumping by Real in style.

Ernesto Valverde’s side have won all seven matches since they faced Los Blancos. That includes 5-0 and 6-1 wins in the league over Espanyol and Eibar respectively and a 3-0 victory over Juventus in the Champions League.

Barça sit top of La Liga and Suarez is back in action. Things are going extremely well, besides Ousmane Dembele’s injury.

Their cause has been helped by Messi playing out of this world. The Argentinian has already scored 12 goals this season and is making a late push to beat Cristiano Ronaldo to the Ballon d’Or.

After finishing behind the Real Madrid forward in voting for the 2016 award, and watching Los Blancos claim the La Liga and Champions League, Messi looks like a man on a mission.

And his desire to succeed was made clear during an incident with Ivan Rakitic in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Girona.

Barcelona were leading 1-0 when Rakitic attempted to put Messi through. But the Croatian’s pass was delayed and Messi was offside when it was eventually delivered.

Messi was incensed, turning back to Rakitic and telling him that he should have played the ball quicker. Watch the video below.