Lionel Messi poses for family photo in a good mood

Lionel Messi posted a photo on Instagram on Sunday afternoon with his wife Antonella Roccuzzo and three sons Thiago, Ciro and Mateo.

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner scored Barcelona's second goal with in their 2-0 win over title rivals Atletico Madrid on Saturday evening and seemed happy to celebrate the achievement with his young family.

The 31 year-old has now scored an incredible 595 goals in 677 career appearances.

Messi's Barcelona strike partner Luis Suarez said his side had taken two steps towards wrapping up the La Liga title after opening up an 11-point gap at the top of the table with seven games left.

Barca had struggled to break down a fiercely competitive Atletico long after Diego Costa had been sent off for the visitors for a verbal outburst at the referee but Suarez finally beat Atleti's outstanding keeper Jan Oblak in the 85th minute.

Captain Messi scored the second goal one minute later and the 90,000 Barca fans crammed into the Nou Camp began to chant 'champions' as they sensed they were closing in on an eighth domestic title in 11 years.

'Today we didn't just take one step, we took two steps forward, we obviously have a very big advantage now but there are still some games to go and it could still get difficult,' Suarez told reporters.

'This was another game which shows just how hard it is to win the league and we deserve a lot of credit for what we're achieving.'