Lionel Messi scored on his comeback as Barcelona bounced back in style, thrashing Deportivo La Coruna 4-0 in La Liga on Saturday.
Barca went 3-4-3 for the visit of Depor as Messi and Samuel Umtiti were only substitutes, while both of their meetings with the Galicians at Camp Nou under Luis Enrique to date had ended 2-2.
Neymar needed little over 10 minutes to volley a cross first time onto the bar, before Luis Suarez failed to keep down his rebounded header from point-blank range. The Brazilian then came inches over when he lifted a free kick over the wall but only onto the roof of German Lux’s net.
It was left to his countryman Rafinha to give Barca the lead as he robbed Pedro Mosquera and played a one-two with Suarez before squirming a shot under Lux, who probably ought to have done better.
Rafinha soon helped himself to a second goal when he swept home the rebound from Gerard Pique’s saved header, in further proof that he had what it took to deputise for Messi.
If the victory was not already sealed then Luis Suarez made sure just before half-time, the No 9 feinting a shot when the ball fell to him in the box, thereby taking his marker out of the game, before finishing across Lux.
Barca’s pressure became unrelenting as Suarez unleashed a half-volley that clipped Lux’s far post, with the goalkeeper completely unmoved, before the Argentine performed that routine again when he watched a free kick fly past him.
Messi’s time came 10 minutes into the restart, and with almost his first touch, the No 10 latched onto Neymar’s reverse through ball, which split the Depor back line in two, and blasted a finish into the roof of Lux’s net.
Depor’s woes, meanwhile, only went from bad to worse as Laure was shown a straight red card for an elbow into Neymar’s face – the second time the forward had endured such pain in two weeks after he was caught by a Bolivian player in a recent World Cup qualifier.
Messi’s chipped pass soon found Lucas Digne, who volleyed a cross into the penalty area instead of taking the shot on first time, but Arda Turan could only poke his finish wide, with the goal at his mercy.
Paco Alcacer was also introduced, but despite getting into all the right positions, his bad luck in front of goal continued. He first met Messi’s driven cross and sent a header on target, but it was tipped onto the post by Lux.
The striker then saw his volley from a yard out somehow avoid the back of Depor’s net after he was teed up by Pique, the goalkeeper making an instictive stop from a yard out, before sliding wide from point-blank range.
The spotlight turned back to Messi, who fired a shot on target that Lux had to tip over the bar. Jeremy Mathieu then thought he scored Barca’s fifth when he flicked a delivery past the goalkeeper, only to be wrongly adjudged offside.
Barcelona 4-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Rafinha 21, 36, Suarez 43, Messi 58 (B) Laure sent off 64 (D)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Pique, Mascherano, Mathieu; Arda, Rakitic, Busquets (Messi 55), Digne; Rafinha (Denis 68), Suarez (Alcacer 46), Neymar
Deportivo La Coruna: Lux, Laure, Albentosa, Sidnei (Arribas 29) Navarro; Mosquera, Borges; Guilherme, Gama (Luisinho 63), Colak (Babel 56); Andone
Referee: Sanchez Martinez
