First Division - Day 22

Alavés 0 - Barcelona 6

Alavés: Pacheco; Vigaray, Laguardia, Alexis, Theo Hernández (Raúl García 87‘); Marco Llorente, Dani Torres; Katai (Oscar Romero 57’), Krsticic (Kiko Femenía 46’), Rubén Sobrino: Christian Santos. 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Aleix Vidal, Umtiti (Jordi Alba 66’), Mathieu, Digne; Rakitic, Busquets (Iniesta 64’), André Gomes (Sergi Roberto 72’); Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.

Goals:
0-1. 37. Luis Suárez. Got on the end of Vidal cross to fire shot past Pacheco.
0-2. 40. Neymar. Rolled shot in to net after Pacheco pushed ball at Luis Suárez.
0-3. 59. Messi. Won ball off Vigaray and struck angled shot under keeper.
0-4. 63. Alexis (own goal). Deflected ball in to net after Theo tackled Messi.
0-5. 65. Rakitic. Curled shot across keeper after Luis Suárez played ball back.
0-6. 67. Luis Suárez. Volleyed shot past Pacheco after keeper saved from Neymar.

Yellow cards: Umtiti 06’, Busquets 59’, Rakitic 61’, Laguardia 93’.

Barcelona moved temporarily above leaders Real Madrid pending their game later in the evening after hammering Alavés 0-6 on Saturday. It was rehearsal for the Spanish cup final after both teams qualified midweek, and the two coaches made several changes to their line-ups. Ter Stegen had to keep out Theo Hernández early on, but with eight minutes to go to the break Luis Suárez got on the end of an Aleix Vidal cross to put the visitors ahead, and just three minutes later Neymar made it two after Pacheco tried to palm away Messi’s ball in to the area, only succeeding in pushing it against the head of Suárez. Christian Santos missed an easy chance for the hosts after the restart, but then the floodgates really opened, Messi winning the ball of Vigaray to score a third, and Alexis deflecting the ball in to his own net after Theo Hernández tackled Messi as he advanced on goal. Two minutes later Rakitic made it five, and almost immediately Suáres got his second of the afternoon after Pacheco could only push out a shot from Neymar. The bad news for Luis Enrqiue though was an ankle injury to Aleix Vidal near the end which could keep him out to the end of the season.