First Division - Day 16

Barcelona 4 - Espanyol 1

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba; Denis Suárez (Rafinha 66’), Busquets (Umtiti 74’), Iniesta; Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar. 4-3-3.
Espanyol: Diego López (Roberto 53’); Javi López, David López, Diego Reyes, Aarón Martín; Piatti (Reyes 79’), Javi Fuego, Diop, Jurado; Caicedo (Melendo 71’), Gerard Moreno. 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 18. Luis Suárez. Picked up long Iniesta pass and ran on to beat Diego López.
2-0. 67. Luis Suárez. Turned shot past Roberto after keeper blocked Messi shot.
3-0. 68. Jordi Alba. Fired angled shot across keeper following good run by Messi.
3-1. 79. David López. Struck shot wide of Ter Stegen after Moreno laid ball across.
4-1. 90. Messi. Ran on to return Luis Suárez pass and poked shot under Roberto.

Yellow cards: Piatti 10’, Aarón Martín 13’, Caicedo 65’.

Real Madrid were already sure of going in to the Christmas break as leaders despite the postponement of their match against Valencia this weekend, but Barcelona kept up the pressure on them with a 4-1 victory over city neighbours Espanyol on Sunday evening. Iniesta set up Luis Suárez for the opener in the eighteenth minute, and two sensational runs by Messi allowed Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba to add two in a minute midway through the second half. The visitors had lost keeper Diego López to an injury a few minutes earlier, but David López pulled one back with ten minutes to go after Gerard Moreno laid the ball across to him. However with the game coming to an end Messi wrapped things up after Luis Suárez lobbed the ball over for him to steer a cheeky shot through the legs of substitute keeper Roberto.