Luis Suarez Blooming but Neymar Wilts as Barcelona Beat Granada

It's far too easy to boil it down to goals, but for once in his life, Luis Suarez has taken the simple route. 

As well as putting in two excellent performances against Manchester City and Granada, he struck on both occasions.

That makes it easy for the headline-writers, the scribes and the editors to put the spotlight on him. To give him the credit he deserves.

These performances have not come out of the blue. Suarez has been building up to this level, since the day he made his debut against Real Madrid in late October.

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Suarez first needed to regain his fitness. Then he needed to forge connections with his team-mates in the attack.

Once he did that, he immediately looked better. There is now a strong understanding between Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar.

And it seems the bonds go further than that; Suarez and Ivan Rakitic was the strongest link in Barcelona's team as they saw off Granada 3-1 at the Nuevo Los Carmenes.

Tuesday's double against Manchester City was sweet revenge, in Suarez's eyes at least, for the injustice he feels he suffered in England.

But scoring one here and creating two others was simply about a world-class footballer, who feels comfortable in his team, taking things into his own hands on a tough afternoon.

It wouldn't be Suarez unless there was at least a mite of controversy, whether caused by him or just levelled at him.

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Against City, there was the "did he bite him?" probe (he didn't), after he tried to break free from Martin Demichelis.

What happened in Andalusia on Saturday night was his own fault; in a challenge with Cala, he swung his arm and caught the Granada defender.

The referee deemed it worthy of a yellow. Unsurprisingly the Madrid press were screaming for a red (AS link in Spanish).

Regardless of this moment, Suarez turned in a top display. While Messi and Neymar were snoozing in the first half, the Uruguayan was sharp, alert.

When Jordi Alba's superb ball found Suarez down the left channel, he forced Cala into a pathetic clearance, and Rakitic capitalised to blast home from close range.

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On a day when Messi wasn't at his mind-boggling best and Neymar looked exhausted, Suarez showed why he had been signed, why having two game-changers wasn't enough. 

The second goal was beautiful, with Suarez playing the ball to Rakitic, who watched his team-mate dart into the box and lofted an inch-perfect ball for him to run on to, with Suarez nudging past the keeper.

The third goal came from the Rakitic-Suarez link, too, with the Croatian finding his colleague with another fine pass, Suarez eventually unselfishly squaring the ball for Messi to tap in.

Enrique took Suarez off, presumably because he wants him in the best condition possible on Wednesday, when Barcelona take on Villarreal in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg at El Madrigal.

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Neymar, meanwhile, was given a stay of execution despite an all-round weak showing.

One shot, ballooned over the bar in the second half, summed up his afternoon.

He did two things right. One was a good piece of skill to create a chance for Messi, which really should have ended up in the Granada net, and the other was picking up a yellow card.

It was his fifth of the season and means he's unavailable next Sunday when Barcelona take on Rayo Vallecano.

That means he can get some rest, which would benefit him, and also means that barring a straight red card or injury, he'll be all set to feature in the upcoming Clasico on March 22.

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With a little break, Enrique and Barcelona fans will be hoping the Brazilian is back to the form he showed in the first half of the season.

Even if he isn't, that's the point of having a forward line like this.

If Messi isn't doing it and Neymar isn't doing it, then Luis Suarez is ready to step up and do it.