Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga thanks to a 6-0 home win over Sporting Gijon on Saturday night.
The home team started brightly, and Leo Messi looped in a header from the edge of the box to open the scoring, but Sporting felt Luis Suarez fouled goalkeeper Pichu Cuellar seconds beforehand. Sporting had chances to equalise and wanted a penalty for a handball by Gerard Pique, but they went into half-time a goal down. After the break, Barca ran riot with help from the officials: Suarez scored four goals—twice from the penalty spot—while Neymar also scored a penalty late on.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match at Camp Nou.
Winner: Luis Suarez
1 of 5
Eight goals in two games have sent Luis Suarez flying back to the top of the Pichichi charts in La Liga. He's overtaken Cristiano Ronaldo thanks to another four-goal haul.
Having hit a quadruple against Deportivo La Coruna earlier in the week, Suarez took full advantage of the referee's generosity to repeat the trick against Sporting: one from an offside position, two from the penalty spot and a fine late strike inside the near post.
He's the huge danger man at present for Barca and has really been the catalyst for their bounce back to form and keeping them top of the table.
Loser: Neymar
2 of 5
He got on the scoresheet late on, but it's not happening right now for Neymar.
The Brazilian saw plenty of the ball but came off second-best almost every time against Ognjen Vranjes, who was aggressive and impetuous in the challenge at times but still kept the No. 11 quiet for spells. Naturally, Neymar had some chances in the game, but he continually took an extra touch or waited too long to get a shot away, missing or seeing his efforts blocked at each turn.
Even his late penalty was not particularly confident, as he rolled it central and almost allowed Pichu Cuellar to save it with his legs.
Winner: Luis Enrique
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The manager put out a full-strength side to ensure Barcelona got the result they needed and was rewarded with a big scoreline, if not a full-throttle performance.
Luis Enrique allowed freedom of movement in attack, but there was plenty of structure in midfield this time for Barcelona, even though Sporting were able to work the channels well in the first half and create some chances on the counter-attack.
Remaining at the top of the table after the weekend is all the manager could have asked for, and he was able to rest one or two big players after half-time thanks to the large lead his side opened up.
Loser: Referee Clos Gomez
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Clos Gomez and his assistants had what can only be described as a nightmare of a game.
He missed a blatant handball on the stroke of half-time when Gerard Pique stopped a Sporting shot going in, which would have also resulted in a red card. Then, Gomez gave three penalties to Barcelona in the second half in quick succession—at least one and possibly two were extremely questionable.
The decision to show a second yellow card to Vranjes for the barest of hands on the shoulder of Neymar was absurd, as was the penalty that was also awarded.
His assistants also have some explaining to do after failing to spot an easy offside decision against Suarez for the Uruguayan's first goal; it's fair to say Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid fans will be less than impressed by Gomez's performance.
Winner: Andres Iniesta
5 of 5
Big scorelines and debatable decisions take headlines, but the understated display of Andres Iniesta simply oozes class and needs to be recognised.
The captain and key central midfielder was just unstoppable, drifting into pockets of space between the lines and taking the ball, turning and moving it on, always into areas of danger and always where Barcelona could continue their attacks. He wasn't flashy, and he didn't have a big penalty-area impact, but he was superb throughout.
It's nothing new for Iniesta, but in a team where the front three get tremendous recognition, the supply line from deep should also be praised when it's as good as Iniesta managed on the day.
