Barcelona 4 Real Sociedad 0: Neymar and Suarez on target again

Messi had made his return after two months out injured by coming off the bench in El Clasico against Real Madrid on Saturday and Suarez was thrilled to see him step up his comeback against Roma. However, with the appointment of a new coach in the form of former Barça B manager, Eusebio Sacristan, La Real look as though they might be ready to turn a corner.

Last season, the trio hit a Spanish record 122 goals as Barca won the treble and now they have 125 – and counting – this calendar year after a double from Neymar and a goal each from Suarez and Messi against Sociedad.

An early goal from the in-form Antoine Griezmann gave Atletico Madrid a 1-0 victory over Espanyol that keeps them four points behind Barca.

Luis Enrique believes Barcelona are playing the best football of his reign after Saturday’s 4-0 win against Real Sociedad.

“These players are very smart and we know perfectly that we are in the first third [of the season] and the best part is still to come”. We are in a good moment, and we intend to extend it to the fullest. In his last nine starts for Bayern he has found the net in eight games, with only a blank in the Champions League defeat to Arsenal blotting the World Cup winner’s copybook.

The crowd whistled its disapproval over the letdown, but the cheers returned when Messi – playing his 600th senior career game, including both club and national team matches – tapped in from close range off a pass from Neymar during stoppage time.

Barca kicked off the week by beating Real Madrid 4-0 in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium and followed that triumph up with a 6-1 thrashing of Roma in the Champions League on Tuesday night to show they are reaching peak form.

“The team stiffening up is down to all the players”, Luis Enrique said.

“We don’t need to let our morale fall too much when things are not going well, neither do we need to get too excited when things are going as well as they are at the moment”. We will all drop points at some point between here and the end of the season.

Luis Enrique singled out Suarez for praise. “Even if Edin Dzeko had taken that chance in the first half, we still would have lost”. “They are out of this world and you can’t play against them right now”.