Spanish League: Barcelona fix Sporting Gijon with six

Barcelona forward Luis Suarez celebrates in their Spanish League match against Real Sporting de Gijón at Camp Nou in Barcelona on Saturday. Suarez scored four goals as Barcelona won 6-0. (Photo: AFP)

Luis Suarez struck four goals for the second time in four days as Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga with the help of three penalties in a 6-0 win over Sporting Gijon on Saturday.

Only Barca’s superior head-to-head record continues to separate them from Atletico Madrid with three games remaining as Angel Correa’s deflected strike handed Diego Simeone’s men a 1-0 win over Malaga.

Gareth Bale ensured Real Madrid remain just a point behind in third as he struck twice to inspire a stunning fightback from a Cristiano Ronaldo shorn Madrid from two goals down to win 3-2 at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Suarez hit four as Barca bounced back from three consecutive league defeats in style with an 8-0 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna in midweek, and his eight-goal week takes him three clear of Ronaldo in the fight to be La Liga’s top scorer.

“I’m a little bit surprised,” Suarez told Movistar+. “I just want to enjoy the fact the goals helped the team in the second-half after a difficult first-half.

“We didn’t play the ball at the speed we normally do and at half-time we had to reflect on the fact we weren’t playing well. In the second-half we showed that we need to play with that intensity all the time.”

Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barca with a looping header into an empty net despite Sporting protests that Suarez had fouled goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar in the build-up.

Yet, Barca had to wait until 25 minutes from time to make the game safe when Suarez slotted home his 50th goal of the season from Andres Iniesta’s pass.

The Uruguayan then added two more from the penalty spot after Roberto Canella handled and Antonio Sanabria upended Neymar inside the area.

Neymar converted Barca’s third spot-kick after Ognjen Vranjes was shown an incredibly harsh second yellow card for a push on the Brazilian. And Suarez rounded off the scoring when he smashed home Messi’s pass off the inside of the post.

Without the injured Ronaldo for the first time in La Liga this season, Real’s title hopes looked set to end in the rain at Rayo when early goals from Adrian Embarba and Miku put Rayo 2-0 in front.

However, Bale took responsibility to drag Madrid back as he rose to power home Toni Kroos’s corner 10 minutes before half-time.