Deportivo La Coruna vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from La Liga
What's the best way to get out of a crisis? There's no scientific answer, but winning 8-0 away from home must be up there.
That's what Barcelona did at Deportivo de la Coruna's Riazor on Wednesday, with Luis Suarez scoring four and Neymar, Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic and Marc Bartra adding one apiece.
It meant Barcelona were guaranteed to stay top of La Liga on 79 points, regardless of results in Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid's games.
Both capital clubs won, so Atletico are second with 79 too, while Real Madrid are third with 78, with four games each to go.
Here are the winners and losers from Barcelona's crushing of Deportivo.
Winner: Luis Suarez
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Where else to start than with a spectacular showing from Luis Suarez?
The Uruguayan forward scored four goals, known as a "poker" in Spain, and added a hat-trick of assists for good measure.
After going through his worst 10-game spell at the club in terms of goals (four), barring his first 10 appearances in which he scored twice, Suarez was turbo-charged against Deportivo.
He scored the first from close range after muscling out Sidnei and fired in the second from Lionel Messi's no-look pass. He then made it three when the Argentine set him up again, but not before carving out a goal for Ivan Rakitic.
Suarez then hit his fourth after an unselfish pass from Neymar, after which he made goals for his two strike partners in the MSN.
It was a perfect night for Suarez and Barcelona, reigniting their engines in the run-in.
Loser: Victor Sanchez
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Deportivo de la Coruna's manager was drawing praise from all quarters after his team's wonderful first half of the season. The second half has been shambolic.
The Galician side have now won just one game from their last 18 league matches, an appalling total, and are only safe from the drop thanks to their fine start.
On this occasion they had a couple of important defenders out injured, but losing 8-0 at home is still a horrifying result. Victor Sanchez needs to get control of his team once again.
Winner: Neymar
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It has been a painful spell for Neymar. He hadn't scored for 579 minutes before he found the net against Deportivo.
His whole performance was a level above his recent displays, with the Brazilian also setting up a goal for Luis Suarez.
Neymar has been unsettled recently by stories in the media collated by Sport, which claim he is not focused on the job at hand.
Some of the factors stated were "parties, trips with inadvisable schedules, recording adverts," while many people have blasted him for his treatment of Jordi Alba, as reported by Sport (warning: NSFW language).
However, he put all that to one side and helped Barcelona blow away Deportivo.
Loser: Aleix Vidal
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Douglas has been a laughingstock at Barcelona. The Brazilian has played few games, and when he has played, he's been mediocre at best.
So imagine how Aleix Vidal must feel, being left out of the squad while Douglas was called up.
Vidal is, apart from Douglas, the last full-back in Luis Enrique's pecking order. Jordi Alba and Dani Alves are usually first choice, while Adriano and Sergi are usually second choice.
Roberto and Jeremy Mathieu have also played in either the left or right defensive positions, the latter two out of their usual places.
The 26-year-old took to Instagram to express his dismay at not being called up, choosing to post an inspirational quote.
"To continue when you think that you can't anymore is what makes the difference between you and the rest. Life is not about setbacks, but not giving up no matter how big the setback," he wrote, per Sport.
It's the sort of message that the club won't be particularly impressed with, as he chose to make a big deal out of not being picked, like Marc Bartra regularly does.
Winner: Marc Bartra
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Marc Bartra had not started a La Liga match since October 25 and has frequently been left out of the squad altogether.
Luis Enrique has seen fit to regularly play Thomas Vermaelen and Jeremy Mathieu ahead of him, as well as regular central-defenders Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano.
This game offered Bartra a chance to impress alongside Mascherano, with Pique suspended and the other two injured, and he duly did.
Some fantastic defending saw him block what looked like a certain goal from Celso Borges in the first half, and he scored a brilliant strike himself after an impressive solo dribble.
He last started a game in February in the Copa del Rey, so to come in and score after being frozen out for so long is quite impressive.
