Ranking the 5 best attacking displays in Europe this past weekend

#1 FC Barcelona 6-1 Girona

Goalscorers: Portu 3' Luis Suarez 5' 44' 76' Lionel Messi 30' 36' Philippe Coutinho 66'

When FC Barcelona knock their opponents into the middle of next week, it always makes for delightful viewing. And when Leo Messi is at the heart of everything good, the entertainment level is unparalleled.

Much maligned in the first half of the season for 'having forgotten how to score', Luis Suarez was at his beastly best as he added yet another hattrick to his already illustrious Barcelona career. However, it was Girona that opened the scoring on the night owing to some lackadaisical defending from Samuel Umititi which led to Portu slotting home in the 3rd minute.

From there on, it was all Barcelona. The league leaders responded in kind 2 minutes later, as Luis Suarez finished off after being sent one-on-one with the goalkeeper by Lionel Messi.

Suarez returned the favour but Messi had a bit more to do before sending one home. He received the ball on the right side of the area and decided to make the result doubly sure as he wriggled his way into the centre of the area before finishing it off as Girona defenders looked too scared to commit.

Leo Messi then bamboozled the Girona defence and their goalkeeper as he decided to go below the wall from a freekick from right outside the penalty box.

FC Barcelona then broke on a counter like unleashed greyhounds on the racetrack as they ripped apart the Girona backline. Leo Messi drove down the centre before releasing Coutinho on the left side of the box. The Brazilian cut it back for Luis Suarez who grabbed the opportunity to bag a brace with both hands.

The next goal was vintage Coutinho, enough said.

Luis Suarez and Leo Messi came close to scoring multiple times and Ousmane Dembele was also starting to grow into the game as he was given more space to operate with on the right flank in the second half.

The youngster eventually made a contribution as his sumptuous cross was well connected by Luis Suarez from 7 yards out as the Uruguayan completed a well-deserved hat-trick.

FC Barcelona are well and truly in top gear and the rest of Europe will need to take notes.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Amit Mishra