Barcelona : Luis Suarez scored twice and Lionel Messi continued his sensational form as Barcelona moved to within two points of La Liga leaders Real Madrid on Saturday with a 5-0 rout of Las Palmas.
Suarez opened the scoring after just 14 minutes, but Barca had to wait until early in the second-half to double their lead when Messi scored for the seventh straight game.
And Barca turned their domination into further goals as Suarez's second, Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal's first goal for the club rounded off the scoring. Victory eased a growing sense of unease around the Camp Nou this week with divisions between the squad and the club's board over ongoing talks to extend Messi's contract beyond 2018.
As if giving Messi the chance to prove Gratacos wrong, Barca boss Luis Enrique surprisingly left out a number of star names with Neymar and Andres Iniesta left on the bench and Gerard Pique out his squad altogether amidst a busy January of La Liga and Copa del Rey action.
However, unlike on many outings this season, Barca's understudies rose to the occasion. The hosts missed a host of chances to extend their lead before the break as Rafinha and Gomes fired off target with just Javi Varas in the Las Palmas goal to beat.
Varas then produced a stunning stop when one-on-one with Messi.
However, the 'keeper was at fault when the second did finally arrive seven minutes into the second-half as he spilt Rafinha's cross into the path of Messi to tap into an empty net to score his 27th goal in just 24 appearances this season.
Suarez added his second of the afternoon with a tidy finish into the far corner just before the hour mark.
Seconds later the Uruguayan should have sealed his hat-trick, but Turan slotted home the rebound after Varas denied Suarez as Barca struck three times in just six minutes.
Suarez was handed a break for the final 20 minutes as he was replaced by Paco Alcacer and the former Valencia captain teed up Vidal to slot home from just inside the area for the fifth 10 minutes from time.
Results: Leganes 0 Athletic Bilbao 0; Barcelona 5 (Suarez 14, 57, Messi 52, Arda Turan 58, Vidal 80) Las Palmas 0
