Barcelona 6-0 Sporting Gijon: 5 talking points

Barcelona easily dispatched Gijon

FC Barcelona continued their emphatic return to form by completing a 6-0 rout of relegation contenders Sporting Gijon at the Camp Nou to regain pole position in the race for the Spanish title.

Both teams entered the game with similar agendas at opposite ends of the table. Barcelona needed a win as title challengers Atletico and Real Madrid both won their fixtures on the weekend. The loss, being Gijon’s second in the past six games, leaves them stuck in the danger zone.

The Blaugrana’s in-form striker Luis Suarez fired in four goals to overtake Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi award, taking his tally to 34 league goals for the season.

Here are five talking points from the game:

A tale of two halves

Barcelona ran riot in the second half

Sporting Gijon arrived at the Camp Nou in desperate need of points. The side had no intentions of hoisting the white flag in Catalonia, and they made this very clear with a good performance in the first half.

Despite going a goal down, Abelardo Fernandez’s men put up a good fight, creating chances of their own early on with Miguel Guerrero creating trouble in the box just to see teammate Alex Mendez’s tame attempt saved by Claudio Bravo.

The Gijon defence stayed compact and played deep, absorbing quite a bit of pressure from Barcelona’s front three. A single goal from Lionel Messi was all that separated the two sides at halftime.

As soon as the second half began, Messi ripped through the Gijon defence time and again, leaving a trail of utter panic behind him. It didn’t take the Catalans long to double their lead, with Messi initiating the move which led to the goal by Suarez. Before they knew it, the Asturians were on the ropes as Luis Enrique’s men switched gears and dictated the tempo of the game.