Barcelona went temporarily top of La Liga with an easy 6-0 thumping of Alaves.
Barcelona began the fixture only a point behind Real Madrid, although their rivals had played two games less. Alaves, meanwhile, were rooted in mid table with twenty-eight points.
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Barca took charge early on, with Ivan Rakitic's cross almost met by Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan was gently nudged by Carlos Vigaray, but a penalty would have been extremely harsh. Lionel Messi also unleashed an early effort, as the away side took control.
There were concerned faces amongst the travelling support as Neymar clutched his ankle after turning past Vigaray minutes later, but the striker was soon able to resume. Dogged defending waskeeping Barcelona out at least temporarily, Messi's shot blocked by two diving defenders.
Alaves entered the game as underdogs, but nearly took a shocking lead through Theo Hernandez. The left-back zoomed down the pitch and found himself inside the penalty area. His shot was weak and blocked by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Normality resumed with ten minutes of the half remaining, as the visitors snatched a quick double. Aleix Vidalslid the ball in from the flank and Suarez coolly tapped in to open the scoring, before Alaves goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco lost his head.
Bizarrely, the keeper tried to push the ball away from Suarez, but managed only to deflect the ball to the feet of Neymar off the Uruguayan. Faced with an empty net, Neymar gleefully finished off.
Half time came, and the result looked to have been settled already. A switch in formation for Alaves gave the full-backs an opportunity to attack Barca after the break, with three centre-backs used instead.
59' Alaves 0-3 Barcelona
63' Alaves 0-4 Barcelona
65' Alaves 0-5 Barcelona
68' Alaves 0-6 Barcelona
Incredible 10 minutes. pic.twitter.com/T5UlDW70Sx
Unfortunately, that decision would prove to be absolutely and catastrophically fatal. They did pressurise early on with Christian Santos' shot from one-on-one with the goalkeeper flying over and wide, but Barcelona promptly smashed in four goals in eight minutes.
The frenzy began in the sixtieth, as Neymar supplied Lionel Messi from a re-taken free kick for the Argentine to break a tackle and fire in under Pacheco. Three minutes later, Messi forced Alaves defender Alexis into an own goal.
Four goals in eight minutes.
Barcelona go top of La Liga (for now) after a 6-0 win over Alavés. pic.twitter.com/ziBkqwHHR7
If that wasn't enough for you, Suarez pulled the ball back from the byline and Rakitic angled an effort into the bottom corner. Then, Messi was back in the action with a shot which was parried back to Suarez. The striker slammed home with relish for Barcelona's sixth.
There might have been a consolation for Alaves when Santos fired towards the near post, but Ter Stegen blocked the effort. Vigaray took out his frustrations on Neymar as the Brazilian went for a couple of unnecessary stepovers.
The only concern for Barcelona as the full-time whistle blew was a nasty looking injury to Vidal. Temporarily, they are top of La Liga.