Luis Suárez scored his first hat-trick for Barcelona as they thrashed Cordoba 8-0 away from home, while Real Madrid kept pace in the title race courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo treble at Sevilla.
For 41 minutes there was no sign that Barca were going score eight goals. Brave defending by Cordoba took them within minutes of a scoreless draw at half-time but then a thumping drive from Ivan Rakitic in the 42nd minute gave the league leaders the lead and when Suarez doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time it was game over.
Messi stretched the visitors’ lead further by scoring in the first minute of the second half, and then Suarez struck again, before Gerard Pique, Messi and Neymar each scored, the latter from the penalty spot, with Suarez grabbing his third in the 88th minute.
Real Madrid remainedtwo points behind Barcelona after a tight 3-2 win over Sevilla. Cristiano Ronaldo was the star of the show with a hat-trick as ended Sevilla’s remarkable unbeaten home run with a 3-2 win at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
The Portugal forward netted twice in a minute late in the first half to put Los Blancos in command, but their advantage was reduced to a single goal before the break when Carlos Bacca scored from the penalty spot after an ill-advised challenge by Sergio Ramos.
Ronaldo headed in a fine Gareth Bale cross from a tight angle to calm the visitors’ nerves midway through the second period, only for Vicente Iborra to set up a tense finale, but Madrid held on to become the first side to beat Sevilla at home in the league in 448 days.
Third-placed Atletico Madrid were unable to match the top two, though, drawing 0-0 with Athletic Bilbao and ending the night with ten men as Unai Bustinza was sent off.
In the day’s late game, Deportivo La Coruna and Villarreal played out a 1-1 draw with the visitors the happier of the two with the outcome. Villarreal, chasing a European spot, edged further ahead in sixth thanks to their share, with Jaume Costa having put them ahead.
Deportivo remain in the bottom three, though, and this point – earned by Celso Borges equaliser – puts them a point closer to safety but they will consider this two points dropped in their bid to stay up.
