Barcelona vs Real Betis. Spanish La Liga.
Camp NouAttendance81,977.
Thursday 31 December 2015 00:03, UK
Lionel Messi marked his 500th appearance for Barcelona with a goal and Luis Suarez scored twice as they beat Real Betis 4-0 at the Nou Camp to move back to the top of La Liga.
Betis defender Heiko Westermann put through his own net on the half-hour mark after Neymar had hit the bar from a hugely controversial penalty awarded to the home side, before Messi doubled the lead just three minutes later.
Luis Suarez then added a third within a minute of the restart with a goal that made Barcelona the top scoring Spanish side in history in a calendar year with 179, beating Real Madrid's record from 2014.
Suarez then netted his second of the night and Barcelona's 180th of 2015, rounding off a superb team move from close-range.
It was the first game for Luis Enrique's side since their Club World Cup triumph in Japan earlier this month, and at kick-off they were third in the table after victories earlier in the day for title rivals Real and Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona started the stronger but there was definitely a sense of a hangover following their travails in the Far East, and Neymar could easily have seen red after just a couple of minutes for purposely crashing into Alvaro Cejudo after what the Brazilian felt had been an unjust challenge on him a few moments earlier.
The referee didn't see that but, on the half-hour mark, Vicandi Garrido did make his mark on the game.
Betis goalkeeper Antonio Adan charged out to punch the ball and slightly caught Messi with his shoulder on his way out. Messi went down in pain and, to the away side's incredulity, the official pointed to the spot.
Neymar, with Messi off the pitch receiving treatment, stepped up to take it and, to add insult to injury, appeared to touch it twice as he slipped and hit the bar with his effort.
But just as it looked as though Real Betis were to get a deserved reprieve, Westermann rushed in to accidentally put the ball through his own net.
In the aftermath of the spot kick, Betis boss Pepe Mel was dismissed from the touchline, and it would get even worse for him just a couple of minutes later as Messi doubled Barcelona's lead.
Messi, back in the action, pinged one over the top for Neymar, before getting onto the end of his fellow South American's cutback to score on his milestone appearance.
Any chance of a Real Betis comeback was then immediately dashed within a minute of the start of the second half as Suarez slid one home from close range after being played in by Sergio Busquets.
Barcelona dominated the rest of the game as Betis failed to recover from their setbacks. The home side hit the woodwork no fewer than three times as Neymar, Dani Alves and then Messi all went close.
But finally, with just seven minutes left on the clock, they had their fourth goal as Suarez netted the best of the lot.
The Uruguayan exchanged passes with Neymar and Adriano, played a superb one-two with Neymar in the box, then tucked the ball past Adan to round off the victory.
