Lionel Messi: Barcelona limp through injury crisis

A spectacular performance from Neymar ensured Barcelona didn’t miss the injured Lionel Messi as he scored four to help the European champions come from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano 5-2 on Saturday.

Barca have kept just two clean sheets in all competitions this term, relying on outgunning their opponents as they sit top of their Champions League group and level on points with La Liga leaders, and fierce rivals, Real Madrid.

Ronaldo set up a goal and scored another in a three-minute span at the Santiago Bernabeu. I am very happy with the victory and the way we played. Substitute Jese Rodriguez closed the scoring in the 81st minute.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique described four-goal hero Neymar as electric.

The Brazil star showed off his slinky skills to win the Catalan club’s second penalty against Rayo Vallecano, and converted both of the evening’s spot-kicks himself before adding two more goals. “We continue working to make sure it doesn’t happen again so that next time we have 10 chances we score 10 or nine”.

The Argentina man has had his struggles with penalties and Neymar will have a case to take them even when Messi returns. Also during the game, Neymar took his tally at Barça to 62 goals in 101 appearances, surpassing Johan Cruyff who needed 79 matches more to score his 60 goals for the club.

That did not sit well with the home fans, who were already exasperated by a pair of golden goal-scoring opportunities squandered by Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez in the opening minutes of the contest. “I can’t explain how I do what I do because it would be giving clues away, but it is all down to lots of practice”, Neymar told.

Sergi Roberto made his 11th start of the season against Rayo, a run that the 23-year-old believes vindicates his decision to stay at the Camp Nou this season.

Elsewhere, Valencia got their season back on track with a comfortable 3-0 win over Malaga.