Sporting: Cuéllar; Lora, Lichnovsky, Jorge Meré, Canella; Omar Mascarell, Nacho Cases; Pablo Pérez (Isma López 66’), Halilovic, Alex Menéndez (Alex Barrera 73‘); Carlos Castro (Jony 66’). 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Bravo; Aleix Vidal, Piqué (Marc Bartra 80‘), Mathieu, Adriano; Rakitic, Busquets (Mascherano 80‘), Arda Turan; Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.
Goals:
0-1. 25. Messi. Picked up ball outside area and struck long shot across Cuéllar.
1-1. 27. Carlos Castro. Got on end of Menéndez cross to slide ball in on far post.
1-2. 31. Messi. Poked shot past keeper after Luis Suárez laid ball back to him.
1-3. 67. Luis Suárez. Collected Vidal pass and cut in to curl shot in off far post.
Yellow cards: Jorge Meré 61’, Busquets 77’, Canella 91’.
The day 16 match rescheduled from last December due to the Club World Cup was played this evening, 17th February, Barcelona extending their lead at the top of the table to six points after a 1-3 victory over Sporting Gijón. Messi started things off midway through the first half, cutting across the area to beat Cuéllar for his 300th goal in the league, and although Carlos Castro finished off a quick breakaway to level it just two minutes later, Messi restored the lead on the half hour mark after Luis Suárez set him up. Neymar hit the woodwork and then fired a shot just wide before the break, and a quarter of an hour in to the second half the visitors were awarded a penalty when Cuéllar brought down the Brazilian forward in the area. The keeper did manage to save Luis Suárez’s spot kick, the seventh penalty that Barcelona have missed out of the last fifteen, but Suárez made up for his mistake soon afterwards, curling a shot in off the far post for his own 40th of the season.