Barcelona 6-0 Athletic Bilbao: 5 Talking Points

Barcelona rehearsed for the upcoming Copa del Rey clash with Athletic Bilbao with a 6-0 thrashing of 10-man Basque outfit in the league at the Camp Nou to reclaim pole position in the standings. Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick whilst Lionel Messi, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic each bagged a goal apiece in the rout.The game began in the worst possible way for the visitors as goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz was sent off in the fifth minute for a challenge on Suarez and Messi stepped up coolly slot home the resulting penalty. Neymar doubled the lead shortly after, whereas Suarez got his third treble of the season on either side of Rakitic’s point-blank range tap-in.An easy win for the defending champions keeps them ahead of the chasing pack at the top, and sent a warning to Los Leones ahead of their meetings in the King’s Cup. Here are the major talking points from the game.

#1 Red card sets the tone for Bilbao

The moment Gorka Iraizoz was sent off for his tackle on Luis Suarez, there was going to be only one winner. Barcelona were always expected to swim through this, but their task was only made easier by the red card dished out in their favour.

With five minutes gone and a man down, the writing was on the wall for the visiting Athletic Bilbao. The Basque side were already crippled due to the suspension of their talismanic forward Aritz Aduriz and were also missing the industry of Raul Garcia in midfield, who picked up an injury in their last outing. So the red card would only compound the misery.

The home side obviously enjoyed the advantage and Bilbao, for all their efforts, couldn’t halt the shellacking from happening.