HIGH FIVES FROM BARCA

They were without the injured Lionel Messi, while Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic were on the bench.

Barca broke the deadlock just before the half-hour mark as Luis Suarez rounded goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar to slot home and Rafinha added a second just minutes later.

Sporting Gijon had captain Alberto Lora sent off in the 74th minute and the floodgates opened for Barca with Brazilian superstar Neymar netting twice and Arda Turan also on the scoresheet.

The Catalan giants now sit in second place and one point behind Real Madrid – who were held to a 2-2 draw with Las Palmas last night.

It had been a quiet opening from Barca, who didn’t manage to muster an effort until the 14th minute when Andre Gomes’ cross found Suarez on the left of the box, who headed across for Neymar and he went for the overhead kick – but was flagged for offside.

There was controversy when keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen looked to have handled outside the area. He came out to collect a long ball from Jorge Mere, but ran into the ‘D’ and realising he could be out of the box, threw the ball back into the area before scrambling on top of it.

The incident sent the El Molinon Stadium into a frenzy with Ter Stegen protesting his innocence and managed to escape without caution from the referee.

Barca then took over as they swept their rivals aside.