Messi, Suarez shoot Barca to top of La Liga

Lionel Messi’s hat-trick, his 32^nd for the club, and a double from Luis Suarez was all Barcelona needed to move to the top of La Liga for the first time since early November.

The duo ensured a 6-1 thrashing of 10-man Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.

Champions Atletico Madrid remain seven points off the top, though they were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia at the Vicente Calderon.

Real Madrid’s 1-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday handed Barca the chance to overtake the European champions.

Gerard Pique doubled the hosts’ advantage just after half-time before Messi added a third from the penalty spot at the second attempt thanks to a reprieve from the referee after his initial effort was saved by Cristian Alvarez and Tito had been sent-off for a second bookable offence.

There was no controversy over the Argentine’s final two goals, though, as he moved level with Cristiano Ronaldo on 30 league goals for the season.

Both sides ended with 10 men when Dani Alves was shown a straight red card for bringing down Alberto Bueno inside the area and Bueno converted from the spot.

However, Barca had the final word when Suarez slammed home his second of the afternoon from Messi’s through ball.

“The objective is to be the leader when the season ends,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.

“I have always said the big teams will lose throughout the course of the season and it will continue to happen, therefore we have to be very careful.”

Suarez has found his scoring touch in recent weeks after a slow start to life at the Camp Nou and was razor sharp in front of goal just six minutes in as he rolled his defender before flicking the ball past Alvarez with the outside of his right foot.

 

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