Ronaldinho says there is no danger of Barcelona easing up in the second half of the season, despite their record-breaking start to the campaign.

“The first half of the season has gone well, but our aim is to do even better in the second,” the Brazilian told Sport.

“Our strength is that we have a certain way of playing and we never change it. We now play by heart.”

The Catalans have earned 17 consecutive victories in all competitions this season, bettering the previous record set by Real Madrid in the 1960-61 season when they won 15 league games in a row.

They lead the Primera Liga by seven points from Osasuna, are in the last 16 of the Champions League.

“We shouldn’t be looking over our shoulders at our rivals, although we have to respect each one of our opponents,” he said.

“We’ve got an advantage and if we keep going like this we will end up as champions.”

He acknowledged though that they faced a stern test of their resources for the next month with leading striker Samuel Eto’o away playing for Cameroon at the African Nations Cup.

“It’s real bad luck that we don’t have Samuel because he is a decisive player and he is in brilliant form at the moment,” Ronaldinho said.

“I’m prepared to play in his position as I have played there before, but we also have (Henrik) Larsson and Maxi (Lopez) and they are more accustomed to playing there and we hope they will do well.”

“We always try to play good football with the ball at our feet, while our opponents often only come out to defend,” he said.

“We need to keep faith with our style because that is what works best for us.”

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