Suarez hat-trick leads Barcelona to 6-1 victory over Girona

Girona have managed many upsets this season in La Liga, but they weren’t able to pull off another at the Camp Nou.

Girona are the shock team of the 2017-18 La Liga season. Pablo Machin led the team to promotion last season, finishing runners-up in Liga Adelante, and have found themselves in the top half of La Liga for much of the season.

They looked to continue their surprising season today with what many deemed an impossible win away to Barcelona. Only minutes in, though, and the impossible seemed possible as Portu scored his 10th goal of the season by capping off a Girona counter-attack with a cheeky chip off the inside of the near post.

Barcelona responded brilliantly; roughly two minutes later Lionel Messi played Luis Suarez into a one-on-one with Bounou. He finished calmly as expected, and Barca had the visitors right where they wanted them.

Barcelona took the lead about 25 minutes later when an Ivan Rakitic long ball found Suarez in behind the Girona back line. The Uruguayan laid the ball off to Messi, who seemed to have dribbled himself out of a shooting angle, but then worked his way back toward the middle around three Girona defenders and found the bottom left corner. It was a goal only Messi could score.

In minute 36, Messi picked up his second of the match and extended Barcelona’s lead with a direct free-kick from roughly 20 yards out. The Argentinian maestro had the cheek to slot the ball underneath the jumping Girona wall and right into the bottom corner. It was a beautiful goal that assured Barcelona would win the game.

Even though Ernesto Valverde’s side may have felt comfortable with a 3-1 lead, that doesn’t mean they stopped looking to score. Their continued efforts paid off as Suarez picked up his second right on the brink of halftime to give Barcelona a 4-1 lead heading into the break.

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Both sides had sniffs at goals in the early stages of the second half, but it was Barcelona who ended up finding the back of the net as Philippe Coutinho scored a stunner from 25 yards out. The Brazilian spun his defender at the corner of the box, eyed up the far post, and struck a venomous curler that hit off the inside of the post and went in. Bounou never stood a chance.

Suarez completed his hat-trick in minute 77 with a tap-in that came out of a quick team counter-attacking move. Ivan Rakitic picked up the ball in midfield, found Ousmane Dembele with a through ball to get him to the end line, and Dembele flashed it across the six-yard box where Suarez was left unmarked and tapped home easily.

6-1 was a harsh result for Girona but it’s hard to expect anything else with the way Barcelona are playing at the moment. What was truly frightening was how fluid Barcelona looked. Coutinho seems to have fit right in with his new club, and Dembele slotted right back in after missing months through injury. When Barcelona play the way they did today, there’s not a team in Europe that can beat them.

Highlights

https://twitter.com/beINSPORTSUSA/status/967495255170826240

https://twitter.com/beINSPORTSUSA/status/967508286936264704

Barcelona’s next match comes on Thursday, when they travel to Las Palmas.