Barca return to La Liga summit

Spanish champions, Barcelona, have replaced Real Madrid at the top of La Liga once again after recording a 3-0 win over Espanyol in Saturday night’s Catalan derby.
Real Madrid’s 2-1 victory over Valencia earlier had seen Los Blancos rise to the summit, but Barcelona are back on top due to their superior head-to-head record over the Madrid giants.
Espanyol had a golden chance to take the lead in the fifth minute when Felipe Caicedo raced away from the Barcelona midfield before feeding Jose Jurado inside the away side’s penalty box, but the number 14 could only send his low effort wide of the far post.
Barcelona had a couple of half-chances in the opening 15 minutes of action, although Neymar’s goal-bound strike was blocked by Javi Lopez, before Ivan Rakitic’s dipping effort deflected just over Diego Lopez’s crossbar as a tight Catalan derby remained goalless in the early exchanges.
Javi Lopez’s work down the right became a feature of the first period for Espanyol, although Caicedo failed to meet a couple of dangerous crosses from the defender as Barcelona’s back four were targeted by an opponent once again.
Barcelona were ahead in the 50th minute, however, when Luis Suarez raced onto an awful back-pass from Jurado before beating Diego Lopez at his near post.
After restricting the Spanish champions to very little in the first period, it was a moment of madness from Jurado that saw the home side concede.
Neymar thought that he had doubled Barcelona’s lead on the hour when he curled a brilliant effort towards the far corner of Espanyol’s goal, but a wonderful save from Diego Lopez kept the score at 1-0.
The Spanish champions were purring, however, with Neymar, back from suspension, causing all sorts of problems down the left as he continued to cut inside and link with Luis Suarez and Messi.
Barcelona netted a killer second in the 76th minute, however, when Rakitic slotted the ball into the bottom corner after an individual run from Messi had caused panic in the Espanyol defence.
The visitors were not finished, though, and scored a third through Luis Suarez in the 87th minute after the Uruguay international had pounced on a loose clearance from young full-back Aaron Martin.