Barcelona striker Luis Suárez (middle) celebrates one of his four goals with teammates Neymar and Lionel Messi. (Photo : Getty Images)
Defending champions FC Barcelona (25-5-4, 79 points) finally got out of their late season rut as they try to go on a new winning streak. The team will host bottom three squad Sporting de Gijon (8-18-8, 32 points) at the Nou Camp this Saturday, April 23rd for a 2015-2016 La Liga season encounter.
Barça snapped their four-game winless slide with an emphatic 8-0 victory over middling side Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday on the road at the Estadio Municipal de Riazor, as reported by SkySports.
Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez scored four goals in the contest, at the 11th, 24th, 53rd, and 64th minutes, to move within one goal from Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo as the top goalscorer in the Spanish top flight this season with 30 goals in 31 appearances.
Ivan Rakitic, Lionel Messi, Marc Bartra, and Neymar all scored one goal each at the 47th, 73rd, 79th, and 81st minutes respectively as Luis Enrique's side were able to find their top form once again after weeks of playing below expectations.
The win kept the Catalonia giants at the top spot of the league table even though they are now tied on points with second-running team Atletico Madrid in the overall standings as they have a superior goal differential than Atleti.
Meanwhile, Sporting Gijon had been surprising the league leaders in the past weeks even as they are settled at third from the last place in the league table. The team is only a point away from the safe zone currently held by Granada with four games left in their season's campaign.
After beating Atletico Madrid four weeks ago, Los Rojiblancos went on a three-game winless skid then defeated another contending squad, Sevilla FC, 2-1, at the Estadio El Molinón also on Wednesday, via ESPN.
Sevillistas midfielder Vicente Iborra opened the scoring at the eighth minute before an own goal from teammate Grzegorz Krychowiak equalized the game at the 22nd. Sporting defender Isma Lopez sealed the win for the hosts with a goal in injury time to pull off the upset victory.
The predicted result is a 3-0 blowout win for Barcelona as the team gets back on track.
Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Bravo; Alves, Bartra, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar
Sporting Gijon starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Cuellar; Lora, Hernandez, Mere, Lopez; Picon, Cases; Carmona, Halilovic, Jony; Sanabria
