Barcelona beat sporting Gijon 6-0 at the Camp Nou on Saturday night to go back to the top of La Liga. Goals from Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar saw Sporting Gijon stay in the relegation zone as they conceded as many as three penalties in the second half.
Squads
Barcelona: Bravo, Roberto, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Sporting Gijon: Cuellar, Vranjes, Hernandez, Lichnovsky, Lopez, Mascarell, Rachid, Perez, Halilovic, Menendez, Guerrero
Lionel Messi gives Barcelona the lead after early scare
Barcelona started without Dani Alves yet again with Sergi Roberto starting at right-back while Gerard Pique back in central defence after serving a suspension. For Gijon, the young and talented Alen Halilovic, who is on loan from Barcelona and has scored three goals this season, started the game behind Miguel Guerrero.
The opening stages almost saw Messi get on the scoresheet in the third minute when a series of passes eventually saw Roberto send in a cross across goal but the Argentine forward headed over.
At the other end, Gijon had one of their best chances of the half when a counter-attack saw a two-on-one situation develop. The ball was squared to Menendez but behind him and he simply couldn’t get enough power or placement in his shot as Claudio Bravo made an easy save.
However, Barcelona soon took the lead in the 12th minute. Iniesta tried to find Luis Suarez with a lobbed ball into the box which goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar came out to punch. As he cleared the ball, Cuellar went down, apparently as he collided with Suarez.
The punch wasn’t a great one, though, as Lionel Messi pounced on the opportunity to head it into an empty net and score his 40th goal of the season in all competitions to give Barcelona the lead despite Gijon’s protests over a possible foul.
In spite of the early goal, Barcelona failed to establish themselves as the superior side. They did have the chance to go 2-0 up when Neymar found some space on the box only to be faced with a wall of Gijon players. The Brazilian tried to work his way to the far post and then cut it back for Suarez. The Uruguayan failed to spot Messi at the other post and took a shot himself that was blocked.
At the other end, Gijon had another chance to score late in the half, this time, the equaliser. A counter-attack saw as many as three chances to shoot on goal with both Javier Mascherano and Gerard Pique making blocks right on the goal line to deny Gijon a goal.
Half-time: Barcelona 1-0 Sporting Gijon
Gijon hold firm in second half before capitulation in defence
The second half saw Barcelona replace Sergi Roberto with Dani Alves after the Spaniard reportedly had some discomfort in his ankle. The home side did get a number of chances in the Gijon box to double the lead as Gijon thwarted one chance after another with two banks of four defending resolutely.
Messi, Suarez and Neymar were trying their best to combine in and around the box to create chances for each other but they were lacking in the final pass to get a clean shot on goal. However, they soon got their second in the 63rd minute.
Messi and Iniesta combined to allow the Spanish midfielder to play in a ball across the face of goal and Luis Suarez was at the far post to tap it in from close range to make it 2-0.
With the 2-0 lead and Gijon not threatening to score, Enrique took Pique off and brought on Marc Bartra. Meanwhile, Roberto Canella and Antonio Sanabria had also come on for Gijon.
Gijon then capitulated under Barcelona’s relentless pressure, conceding two penalties in three minutes. The first was courtesy of a handball from substitute Canella as he tried to get in the way of a Dani Alves cross while the second saw Sanabria push over Neymar with a shoulder barge that was a bit too physical as he went nowhere close to getting the ball.
With Messi and Neymar having missed penalties this season, Luis Suarez stepped up both times and converted both spot kicks to complete his hat-trick and put Barcelona in a commanding 4-0 lead. The hat-trick saw him scored his 33rd goal in La Liga and it moved him past Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (31) in the race for the Pichichi.
Gijon then conceded a third penalty in the 84th minute when Ognjen Vranjes was booked for a foul on Neymar while going up for an aerial duel. It was his second booking and the referee produced a red card to give the Bosnian defender his marching orders as Neymar stepped up himself to take the penalty and put it away.
A hat-trick wasn’t enough for Luis Suarez and he scored his fourth of the game as Messi set him up for a shot in the box. The Uruguayan striker did not have much space to work with but still managed to get a shot off that squeezed in at the near post and found the back of the net to make it 6-0 and take his tally to 34 league goals.
That was how the match ended as Barcelona reclaimed top spot in La Liga after wins from title rivals Atletico and Real Madrid earlier in the day.
