Barcelona vs. Sporting Gijon: Goals and Highlights from 2016 La Liga Game

Victories for Real and Atletico Madrid earlier in the day meant Barcelona needed a win at home against Sporting Gijon to return to the summit of La Liga.

Their task got off to the perfect start, when Sporting goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar's clearance found Lionel Messi, whose header looped into the back of the unguarded net:

"

14' Barcelona 1-0 Sporting Gijón. El gol de Messi (14') https://t.co/8IjrUMHh4W

— SolamenteFútbol (@SolamenteFutbol) April 23, 2016"

Barca laboured somewhat in their search for a second, but they finally doubled their lead after 63 minutes, when Messi's pass found Andres Iniesta, who slid the ball across the box for Luis Suarez to tap home:

"

#purapasion Mira el gol de Suárez para decretar el 2-0 del partido https://t.co/dvganEmqCV

— Diez.bo (@diezbo) April 23, 2016"

It was 3-0 after 74 minutes, when Suarez scored from the spot after a handball in the penalty area:

"

SUAREZ NEW PICHICHI LEADER WITH 32 GOALS‼️ pic.twitter.com/DqbIF42n6V

— Footy (@FootyVibez) April 23, 2016"

And Suarez completed a quick-fire hat-trick three minutes later with another penalty after Neymar was barged over in the box:

"

Outro pênalti, e hat-trick de Suárez. @FCBarcelona 4x0 @RealSporting https://t.co/IUhpCFa1Yu

— Visão do Jogo ⚽️ (@visaodojogo) April 23, 2016"

Barca were then given a third, somewhat soft penalty, with Neymar taking over responsibility to get on the scoresheet himself:

"

Outro pênalti. Sim... Neymar. @FCBarcelona 5x0 @RealSporting. https://t.co/dFNqafbHIv

— Visão do Jogo ⚽️ (@visaodojogo) April 23, 2016"

Sporting were praying for the final whistle when Suarez netted his eighth goal in two La Liga games with an accurate first-time finish:

"

POKER DE SUÁREZ!

Barcelona 6x0 Gijón

Siga: @HTE__Sports https://t.co/VDZufzka4i

— Gols no TT (@golsnott) April 23, 2016"

Final score: Barcelona 6-0 Sporting Gijon

[Twitter]