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Messi goal, four from Suarez boost Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez came up big for Barcelona on Saturday against Sporting Gijon.
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Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez came up big for Barcelona on Saturday against Sporting Gijon.​

Messi netted early on and Suarez added three straight goals — and later a fourth — to clinch a 6–0 victory.

Messi put the Blaugrana up 1–0 after Sporting keeper Ivan Cuellar came out to parry a chipped ball in, going down and punching it right to Messi’s head. He squared up the bouncing ball and found net with a bit of style.

Some controversy surrounded the goal after Suarez appeared to nick Cuellar with his foot prior to Messi’s score.

Suarez later netted his 31st, 32nd, 33rd and 34th goals of the season for Barca, putting him atop La Liga in scoring. He pulled ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo with the first one.

Two penalties sealed the deal.

Not to be left out, Neymar later delivered from the spot to make it 5–0.

Then Suarez scored, again. The red-hot forward now has eight goals in his last two games.

With a win, Barcelona stays ahead of Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in La Liga, edging Atletico on goal differential with 82 points. Real Madrid trails by a point.