Luis Enrique: ‘Luis Suarez more than goals’

Luis Suarez scored a hat-trick as Barcelona moved up to second in the Primera Division standings, behind Real Madrid on goal difference, with a 3-1 triumph over Eibar at the Nou Camp.

Eibar were handed a lifeline when Javier Mascherano saw a straight red card for protesting with the referee seven minutes from time.

Hat-trick hero Luis Suarez led Barcelona to a 3-1 win over a hard-fighting Eibar to go level on points with La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

Borja Baston gave the visitors a shock early lead with Eibar’s first ever goal against Barca.

Two minutes after Javier Mascherano was sent off for Barcelona in an off the ball altercation, Suarez grabbed his hattrick in emphatic fashion after lashing home a powerful drive into the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the box. While Neymar Jr. has been the star all season, especially since Lionel Messi has been out with injury, Luis Suarez has been, at times, inconsistent.

“I don’t know how long this phase will last”, Luis Enrique told a news conference after the game at the Nou Camp. My congratulations to Luis Suarez for scoring three goals and to Eibar for showing so much courage. In the first 11 months of his playing career at Barcelona he has happily worked in the shadows accepting that Messi must stay in the spotlight for the good of the team.

Both sides’ unbeaten record this season was on the line, but despite their exertions against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek and a host of injuries to key players, it was Madrid who started the brighter. It was costing us to score the first goal [against BATE Borisov] and it ended up coming from (Ivan) Rakitic’s screamer.

Neymar scored a hattrick last weekend against against Rayo Vallecano as his side came away with a 5-2 win.

Atletico, the 2014 champions, are third on 19 points, one ahead of fourth-placed Celta, who are a point clear of Villarreal in fifth after they drew 0-0 at promoted Las Palmas on Sunday.