Lionel Messi marked his 400th LaLiga appearance with an early goal as leaders Barcelona beat Levante 3-0 at the Nou Camp to restore their nine-point advantage.
Philippe Coutinho has headed to Catalonia to complete the formalities of his £142million transfer from Liverpool, but it remained business as usual for Ernesto Valverde’s men on Sunday afternoon as Messi opened the scoring after 12 minutes, drilling an angled effort in off the post.
In-form Luis Suarez, who himself left Anfield for the Nou Camp during the summer of 2014, added a second before the break and Paulinho tapped in a late third as the Blaugrana consolidated first place ahead of Atletico Madrid.
Lionel Messi (left) produced another stellar display in the LaLiga match against Levante (Manu Fernandez/AP/Press Association Images)
The Argentine playmaker was, as usual, at the centre of all of Barcelona’s positive play – before and after he had broken the deadlock with an impressive effort on 12 minutes which flew in off the post.
Just for good measure, it was his low cross which set up Paulinho for a late tap-in to complete the route.
Barcelona doubled their lead on 37 minutes with a goal from the top drawer.
Sergi Roberto was played clear on the overlap down the right, and picked out Luis Suarez with a first-time cross back to the edge of the penalty area.
Suarez took it in his stride, killing the ball with an equist first touch which set himself up for a volley to crash the ball in off the underside of the crossbar.
Stat Attack
? Leo #Messi in @LaLiga ?? 400 games⚽ 365 goals? 144 assists
Barcelona: Marc-Andre ter Stegen 8 (out of 10), Sergi Roberto 8, Javier Mascherano 7, Thomas Vermaelen 7, Jordi Alba 7, Ousmane Dembele7, Ivan Rakitic7, Paulinho 7, Andres Iniesta 7, Lionel Messi 9, Luis Suarez 8. Substitutions: Nelson Semedo (for Dembele, 67) 7, Andre Gomes (for Iniesta, 75) 7, Jose Arnaiz (for Roberto, 86) 6.
Levante: Olazabal Oier 7 (out of 10), Shaquell Moore 7, Erick Cabaco 6, Sergio Postigo 6, Antonio Luna 6, Jefferson Lerma 6, Sasa Lukic 6, Cheick Doukoure 6, David Jason 6, Emmanuel Boateng 7, Ivan Ivi 6. Substitutions: Rober (for Lerma, 62) 6, Alexander Nano (for Boateng, 74) 6, Garcia Samuel (for Jason, 83) 6.
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