Lionel Messi's hat-trick inspired Barcelona to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Espanyol in the Catalan derby on Sunday.
La Blaugrana brought the big boys back into the fray for the inter-city clash, with only Ivan Rakitic retained from Wednesday's 4-0 success over Huesca in the Copa del Rey.
Elsewhere, Andres Iniesta was demoted to the bench in favour of his fellow La Masia graduates Xavi and Sergio Busquets, while Espanyol named a completely-revamped XI from the 2-0 Copa win at Alaves midweek.
Barca predictably dominated possession from the offset, but their work with the ball was all too sterile. It gave Espanyol the confidence to take the initiative on the counterattack, a tactic which they were duly rewarded for adopting.
Busquets' complacency near the left-hand byline saw him cheaply dispossessed by Felipe Caicedo, who fed the ball to Sergio Garcia. The ex-Barca youngster then drove towards the box and finished with aplomb, smashing his effort under Claudio Bravo.
Garcia came close to grabbing his second of the match moments later, after he met another surging run from Caicedo, but despite being one-on-one with Bravo, the forward could only shoot straight at the Chilean goalkeeper.
Barca then began to step their game up, Lionel Messi rattling the crossbar with a rasping free kick from around 25 yards out, before a Luis Suarez collected Xavi's pass and fizzed a low effort just wide of the target.
The hosts failed to learn their lesson the first time, as they were almost caught out again. A raking long pass was met by Victor Sanchez, who was played on by Gerard Pique in behind, but the midfielder's first touch was too heavy and Bravo slid in with a vital clearance.
But like so many times before, Messi popped up with the all-important equaliser on the stroke of half-time, as he read Xavi's lay-off on the edge of the Espanyol area and rifled a terrific, curling effort beyond Kiko Casilla and into the bottom-left corner of the net. The goal was also his 400th for Barca.
It proved the perfect tonic ahead of the second half, as Barca flew out of the blocks after the restart. Eric Bailly may have escaped a red card and subsequent penalty for a clear barge on Neymar in the box, but it didn't stop Messi from bagging his second.
Neymar's incisive forward play saw him evade a series of Espanyol jerseys before picking out Messi, who in turn nutmegged Juan Fuentes and blasted the ball hard and low to the left of the visiting goalkeeper.
Espanyol looked shell-shocked and appeared to have used up all their reserves in the first half. Gerard Pique rose highest to head home Ivan Rakitic's corner and his side into the lead, rubbing further salt in Los Periquitos' wounds.
The rout was seemingly complete with little over 10 minutes remaining, as substitute Pedro got in on the act, bringing down Jordi Alba's sumptuous square ball and stroking the finish across Casilla.
But they weren't finished yet, and with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting a treble for Real Madrid yesterday, Messi repeated his rival's heroics, playing a superb one-two with Pedro before coolly sidefooting the ball home.
Barcelona 5-1 Espanyol
Garcia 13 (E), Messi 45, 50, 81, Pique 53, Pedro 77 (B)
Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitic (Iniesta 65), Busquets (Mathieu 83), Xavi; Suarez (Pedro 70), Messi, Neymar
Espanyol: Casilla; Arbilla, Gonzalez, Bailly (Abraham 83), Fuentes; Vazquez, Sanchez, Canas (Moreno 60), Sevilla; Garcia, Caicedo (Stuani 71)
Referee: Ignacio Iglesias Villanueva
