First Division - Day 20

Barcelona 6 – Athletic Bilbao 0

Barcelona: Claudio Bravo; Aleix Vidal, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba (Marc Bartra 69‘); Rakitic (Sergi Roberto 63‘), Busquets, Iniesta; Messi (Arda Turan 46’), Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.
Athletic: Iraizoz; Bóveda, Gurpegui, Laporte, Balenziaga; San José, Beñat (Iturraspe 63‘); De Marcos, Eraso, Muniain (Herrerín 06’), Iñaki Williams (Sabin 56‘). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
1-0. 07. Messi (penalty). After Iraizoz sent off for bringing down Suárez in area.
2-0. 31. Neymar. Ran on to Luis Suárez pass and lifted shot across Herrerín.
3-0. 47. Luis Suárez. Turned shot past keeper after passing move with Neymar.
4-0. 62. Rakitic. Poked shot past Herrerín after Neymar laid ball back from by-line
5-0. 68. Luis Suárez. Chested on Arda Turan centre and turned shot into net.
6-0. 82. Luis Suárez. Got on the end of Busquets cross to head wide of keeper.

Yellow cards: Mascherano 51’, De Marcos 69’, Eraso 85’, Piqué 87’ / red cards: Iraizoz 04’.

Barcelona remain two points behind leaders Atlético Madrid after thrashing Athletic Bilbao 6-0 on Sunday. Messi got the opener from the penalty spot after Iraizoz was sent off for bringing down Luis Suárez with less than five minutes gone, and Neymar made it two after Suárez set him up with half an hour gone. Messi went close a couple of times before the break, and just two minutes into the second half Neymar and Suárez worked a quick passing move which ended with the Uruguayan striker beating Herrerín for a third time. Eraso did chip a shot over the bar for the visitors a few minutes later, but Rakitic got the fourth following a good run by Neymar, and Suárez added two more from Turan and Busquets assists to complete his hat-trick. A poor result for Valverde’s side, but they will be hoping to do better when the two teams meet again in the cup midweek.