Lionel Messi and Neymar each scored twice as Barcelona hammered Elche 6-0 on Saturday evening.
The Catalan club held a slender advantage at half time, but a Messi penalty 10 minutes after the break, followed quickly after by a red card for the hosts, triggered a rout for Luis Enrique's side.
It was former Manchester United defender Gerard Pique who opened the scoring after 36 minutes, bringing down Xavi's cross like a cultured centre forward, before lashing past the Elche keeper.
Elche defender Sergio Pelegrin brought down Neymar for Messi's penalty, which the Argentine coolly dispatched to the keeper's right.
Faycal Fajr saw red three minutes later, and Barca began to turn the screw. Neymar scored two goals in three minutes to stretch the lead to 4-0, both brilliantly assisted by Messi.
The Argentine played the ball through from the edge of the area for Neymar to lift the ball over the sprawling keeper.
Then, in what was indisputably the goal of the game, Messi crowned some neat interplay by lifting a ball over the defence, where the Brazilian placed a superb sidefoot volley past Przemyslaw Tyton in the Elche goal.
Messi's second came when he picked the ball up on the left and finished into the far corner, before Pedro finished the beating by latching on to Neymar's ball across the six yard box to pass into the empty net.
The result puts Barca a point behind Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
Los Blancos had earlier defeated Cordoba 2-1, in a match where Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off for violent conduct.
culled from mirror
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