Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar annihilate Getafe

Andy West 08:14 29/04/2015
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  • Lethal Luis: Suarez celebrates making it 2-0 at the Nou Camp last night.

    Barcelona turned on the style to keep hold of top spot in La Liga with a ruthless 6-0 crushing of outclassed Getafe.

    The damage was done in the first half with a dazzling attacking display establishing a five-goal interval advantage as the superstar strike trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all got on the scoresheet to take their combined tally for the season past the century mark, to an astonishing 102.

    With Xavi also scoring, it was a scintillating exhibition of football which keeps the pressure on second-placed Real Madrid ahead of their meeting with Almeria tonight.

    And although the low quality of the opposition must be taken into account, the excellence of Barca’s performance will have further bolstered their confidence ahead of next week’s Champions League semi-final clash with Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich.

    Dani Alves came close with a couple of early efforts, but it didn’t take long for the floodgates to open when Marc Bartra slid a pass into Suarez who was tripped by Alvaro Arroyo, and Messi stepped up to convert a cheeky ‘Panenka’ chipped penalty past Vicente Guaita.

    Against the run of play, Getafe came within inches of an equaliser when a ball over the top found Fredy Hinestroza, who lofted an effort over Claudio Bravo, but the Chilean goalkeeper was able to race back and spare his embarrassment by clawing the ball off the line.

    Barca then well and truly wrapped up the game with a stunning spell of attacking power which yielded three goals in five minutes, firstly as Messi floated a beautiful diagonal pass into the run of Suarez, who did the rest with a neat first-time volley on the turn.

    Suarez then again turned provider, releasing Neymar for the Brazilian winger to drift inside and roll home a low right-footed shot. 

    And Xavi made it 4-0 with the pick of the bunch, finding space just outside the penalty area and fizzing an unstoppable strike into the top corner.

    The fifth goal was another cracker as Neymar found Xavi and his flick created a shooting opportunity for Suarez, who took advantage with a fiercely curled right-footed strike beyond Guaita’s dive.

    And it was six within two minutes of the restart thanks to another sensational strike, this time from Messi who received a pass from Suarez and cut in from the right to send a seemingly impossible curler perfectly into the top left corner.

    Remarkably, home team boss Luis Enrique then went even more attacking by introducing Pedro in place of Xavi, but the pace dropped out of the game until Suarez – going in search of his first Barca hat-trick – fired over the top after Neymar’s shot was blocked and then forced Guaita into a low save with a long-range effort.

    Hinestroza squirmed a shot against the post for luckless Getafe before Messi had an angled strike saved as Barca rediscovered their appetite, and Guaita did well to save a viciously struck free-kick from Messi.

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