http://gty.im/471434724
Barcelona faced Getafe on Tuesday night and inched closer to La Liga title with a 6-o win over the team from just outside of Madrid. With only four games to play in the season, Barcelona sits in first place with 84 points, five points ahead of Real Madrid. Goals from Neymar Jr., Xavi Hernandez, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez were all they needed to acquire the three points.
Luis Suarez scored his 12th and 13th goals of the season as he was able to provide for Barcelona on Tuesday night. Xavi Hernandez scored his second goal of the season on his 502nd appearance for the Catalan team, and Neymar got his 20th goal of the season as well. Messi inched closer to the Pichichi title with the two goals he scored on Tuesday night, getting 38 for the season, one less than scoring leader, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Tonight’s starting XI left out Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano, along with Jordi Alba who was suspended for one match on the red card he acquired on Saturday against Espanyol. Thomas Vermaelen was finally cleared by medical staff but still sat out during Tuesday’s match.
Getafe’s defense was very vulnerable as they allowed five goals in the first half and one in the second. The exhaustion from Getafe’s players was visible after the first half and could not get anything going themselves.
The first goal for Barcelona came in the 9th minute when a Marc Bartra pass from midfield connected with Suarez but Suarez was brought down inside the box and was awarded the penalty. Messi stepped up to take it and with a flick he was able to send it to the left side of the net past Vicente Guaita to make it 1-0.
Suarez made it two-nil in the 25th minute with a beautiful assist from Messi, who was able to send a superb pass to Suarez when he crossed it inside the box and without the ball hitting the floor nor Suarez looking at goal, he caressed it home and went past Guaita to make it one of the best goals of the season.
The 3-0 came in the 27th minute thanks to Neymar. The ball was stripped away by Suarez and delivered it to Neymar on his left side. Neymar then went for goal, at least it seemed like he was but instead juked a defender and then found the open space to get it past the goalkeeper and make the lead even bigger.
Barcelona was able to score three goals in the span of five minutes when Xavi made it 4-0 in the 30th minute. The play started when Xavi passed it to Neymar and then got the ball back outside the box and was able to curve it in past Guaita on the right side of the net to get his second goal of the season.
Suarez was able to get his second of the game and the fifth for Barcelona on the 40th minute. It all started with Messi, who passed it to Neymar then back to Messi. He then found Xavi inside the box who back heeled it to Suarez and Suarez was able to curl it in and deliver for Barcelona to make it five-nil.
Messi’s second goal of the night came just two minutes into the second half. Jeremy Mathieu found Neymar and Neymar sent it to Xavi, who touched the ball once and Suarez was able to chip it over to Messi on the right side. Messi then took his time and bent it over the defenders and the goalkeeper to make it 6-0. Messi and his teammates celebrated with a smile and a bit of shock as if not believing that the ball had gone in. He was also able to leave the announcers awestruck as they screamed and laughed with shock.
Barcelona now face a struggling Cordoba team on Saturday afternoon before facing Bayern Munich on Tuesday night for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Getafe will face Granada on Sunday and hope to stay where they are in the table, 13th place.
Man of the match goes out to Luis Suarez who not only got two goals on Tuesday night but also assisted Lionel Messi and Neymar with their goals.