Spanish La Liga
Sporting GijónSporting Gijón0BarcelonaBarcelona5

Sporting Gijon 0-5 Barcelona

Neymar
Neymar scored twice to take his total in La Liga for the season to three - having scored at Leganes last weekend

Barcelona overcame the absence of Lionel Messi to secure an emphatic La Liga win at 10-man Sporting Gijon with three goals in the final nine minutes.

Messi is out for three weeks but was barely missed as Barca scored five away from home for the second week in a row.

Luis Suarez rounded the keeper for the first before Rafinha's diving header put Barca 2-0 up at half-time.

Sporting captain Alberto Lora was sent off on 74 minutes, before Neymar scored either side of an Arda Turan goal.

Lora was already on a booking when he was shown a second yellow card for a lunging challenge on Sergi Roberto, who responded by creating the champions' third and fourth goals - having already claiming a first-half assist for Rafinha's effort.

Paco Alcacer, still chasing his first Barca goal following his move from Valencia, had his first-time shot from a Sergi cross touched against the bar by goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar, with Neymar keeping his feet to control the loose ball and steer it in.

Turan then headed in a terrific cross from his right-back, before Neymar converted a pass from substitute Denis Suarez for Barca, who won 5-1 at Leganes last Saturday.

No Messi, no messing

Luis Suarez
Luis Suarez gave Barcelona the lead after an awkward opening 20 minutes against Sporting

A much-changed Barcelona side got the job done as they went top of La Liga - at least for a few hours, before Sevilla and Real Madrid both played later on Saturday.

For long spells, this was far from a vintage performance from Luis Enrique's side, yet they were utterly ruthless once the home side were reduced to 10 men.

The result justified the manager's decision to mix and match his team in advance of a midweek Champions League trip to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Enrique has made squad rotation a key plank of his strategy this season - with mixed results.

It was an approach that failed miserably against promoted Alaves two weeks ago, when a team showing seven changes - and without Messi or Suarez in the starting line-up - lost 2-1 at home.

Enrique has been noticeably more careful with his rotation since then, although he did make five alterations for the trip to his home city of Gijon, with Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic among those dropping out.

Tellingly, the manager - without the injured Messi to call on - fielded his strongest possible forward line, with Suarez and Neymar lining up in attack, joined by Rafinha.

The champions had to withstand a nervy opening 20 minutes, during which goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen handled outside his penalty area as he tried to deal with a dangerous long ball.

Two quick first-half goals deflated Sporting, and it looked as if that would be that, until a late flurry heaped punishment on the home side.

Line-ups

Sporting Gijón

Formation 4-2-3-1

  • 1Cuéllar
  • 16Castellano Castro
  • 4Meré Pérez
  • 5AmorebietaBooked at 86mins
  • 11LoraBooked at 74mins
  • 6Álvarez Díaz
  • 10Cases Mora
  • 23Gómez BardonadoSubstituted forArnaud Ndiat 68'minutes
  • 7Rodríguez RomeroSubstituted forPereira dos Santosat 77'minutes
  • 14Franco Alviz
  • 24CopSubstituted forCastro Garcíaat 68'minutes

Substitutes

  • 2Pereira dos Santos
  • 3Babin
  • 8Ait Atmane
  • 9Castro García
  • 13Mariño
  • 20Arnaud Ndi
  • 25Viguera

Barcelona

Formation 4-3-3

  • 1ter Stegen
  • 20Roberto Carnicer
  • 3Piqué
  • 24Mathieu
  • 19Digne
  • 21André Gomes
  • 5BusquetsSubstituted forD Suárezat 69'minutes
  • 7Turan
  • 12Rafinha
  • 9SuárezSubstituted forAlcácerat 72'minutes
  • 11Neymar

Substitutes

  • 4Rakitic
  • 6D Suárez
  • 8Iniesta
  • 13Cillessen
  • 14Mascherano
  • 17Alcácer
  • 18Alba
Referee:
Carlos del Cerro Grande
Attendance:
25,899

Match Stats

Home TeamSporting GijónAway TeamBarcelona
Possession
Home39%
Away61%
Shots
Home10
Away13
Shots on Target
Home3
Away7
Corners
Home4
Away3
Fouls
Home15
Away10

Live Text

  1. Post update

    Match ends, Sporting de Gijón 0, Barcelona 5.

  2. Full Time

    Second Half ends, Sporting de Gijón 0, Barcelona 5.

  3. Post update

    Attempt saved. Denis Suárez (Barcelona) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Arda Turan.

  4. Post update

    Neymar (Barcelona) hits the right post with a right footed shot from the left side of the box. Assisted by André Gomes.

  5. Goal!

    Goal! Sporting de Gijón 0, Barcelona 5. Neymar (Barcelona) left footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Denis Suárez with a through ball.

  6. Post update

    Rafinha (Barcelona) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  7. Post update

    Foul by Nacho Cases (Sporting de Gijón).

  8. Post update

    Attempt missed. Neymar (Barcelona) left footed shot from the left side of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Denis Suárez.

  9. Booking

    Fernando Amorebieta (Sporting de Gijón) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

  10. Post update

    Rafinha (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  11. Post update

    Foul by Fernando Amorebieta (Sporting de Gijón).

  12. Goal!

    Goal! Sporting de Gijón 0, Barcelona 4. Arda Turan (Barcelona) header from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Sergi Roberto with a cross.

  13. Post update

    Attempt missed. Dani Ndi (Sporting de Gijón) left footed shot from very close range misses to the right. Assisted by Douglas with a cross following a set piece situation.

  14. Post update

    Foul by Lucas Digne (Barcelona).

  15. Post update

    Douglas (Sporting de Gijón) wins a free kick on the right wing.

  16. Goal!

    Goal! Sporting de Gijón 0, Barcelona 3. Neymar (Barcelona) right footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal.

  17. Post update

    Attempt saved. Paco Alcácer (Barcelona) right footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Sergi Roberto with a cross.

  18. Post update

    André Gomes (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  19. Post update

    Foul by Nacho Cases (Sporting de Gijón).

  20. Substitution

    Substitution, Sporting de Gijón. Douglas replaces Víctor Rodríguez.

As It Stood

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Real Madrid6420156914
2Barcelona64111961313
3Ath Bilbao640296312
4Sevilla6321119211
5Las Palmas63121411310
6Eibar631286210
7Atl Madrid523011299
8Villarreal52306339
9Real Betis6222811-38
10Real Sociedad621389-17
11Leganés521258-37
12Sporting Gijón6213514-97
13Alavés51314406
14Dep La Coruña512234-15
15Espanyol5122912-35
16Malaga612358-35
17Celta Vigo511338-54
18Valencia5104711-43
19Granada5023612-62
20Osasuna5023410-62
View full Spanish La Liga table