Luis Suarez Scores Hat-Trick, Lionel Messi Brace as Barcelona Crush Girona

Luis Suarez grabbed a hat-trick and Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona put on a masterclass to hammer Girona 6-1 at Camp Nou on Saturday.

Messi was at his imperious best, while Philippe Coutinho scored his first La Liga goal for Barcelona, as Ernesto Valverde's side moved 10 points clear at the top of the table.

Valverde made three changes to his side, bringing in Nelson Semedo, Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele. The visitors left top scorer Cristhian Stuani on the bench but did start Anthony Lozano, who only arrived at the club from Barcelona B in January. The two teams shared their lineups on Twitter:

The game got off to a blistering start with Girona opening the scoring inside three minutes. The visitors broke quickly after Sergio Busquets gave the ball away, allowing Girona to come forward through Lozano. He aimed a ball towards Portu, and he took advantage of some hesitancy from Samuel Umtiti to fire a shot from a tight angle which clipped the post and flew in.

Portu is the only player to score against Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in La Liga this season, per Opta:

Barcelona responded immediately and restored parity as Messi sent Suarez through on goal, and he finished clinically past goalkeeper Bono. La Liga showed how Messi has now made more assists in the Spanish top flight than any other player:

Messi almost put Barcelona ahead after 19 minutes after Suarez had picked him out in the box. The Argentinian dinked it over Bono, but defender Bernardo Espinosa managed to just get back and head it over the bar just before it crossed the goal line. 

The Barcelona captain was looking in top form, and it was little surprise when he fired Barcelona ahead after half an hour. Again it was Suarez who found Messi driving into the box. He looked to be crowded out but checked back onto his left foot, went around two defenders and drilled the ball low past Bono.

Football writer Roy Nemer neatly summed up Messi's start to the game:

Messi then added a third shortly afterwards as he fired a free-kick underneath the wall and past a diving Bono to make it 3-1. Journalist Rik Sharma said Messi was making Girona pay for man-marking him the last time the two sides met in La Liga:

Barcelona wrapped up the game just before half-time as Messi found Coutinho, who squared for Suarez to tap home his second of the game from close range. Sports writer Andy West said the performance may give Valverde a selection headache:

Barcelona continued to attack after the break as Suarez hit the post with a shot, Messi stung Bono's palms, and Dembele cut inside and curled a shot just wide. The fifth goal eventually arrived on 65 minutes and was worth the wait. Coutinho made space for himself on the edge of the area before curling a shot past Bono and in off the far post.

Suarez then secured his hat-trick with 15 minutes to go as he tapped home Dembele's cross. Football writer Sid Lowe said it was a promising performance from Dembele:

Barcelona ended the game with 10 men as Semedo was forced off with injury after Valverde had already made his substitutions. However, it made little difference as the hosts had already secured the three points with one of their best performances of the season.