FC Barcelona – SD Huesca: Gr-eight! (8-2)

At a sunny and warm Camp Nou, the match had barely got underway before a good passing move from Huesca saw Cucho Hernández poke home the opening goal. In an eminently watchable game, the visitors’ lead lasted until the quarter hour when Lionel Messi took matters into his own hands to fire past Werner.

Consistent pressure from the Blaugrana soon brought more reward as Jordi Alba’s cross from the byline was turned into his own net on 25 by Pulido.

Stunning

The majority of the play was now in Huesca’s half of the pitch, and a stunning strike from Ousmane Dembélé bounced off of the woodwork as Barça pressed for a third before the break. That eventually arrived courtesy of Luis Suárez’s close-range first of the campaign on 39, before Huesca’s Alex Gallar had the last word three minutes later (3-2).

Within a minute of the restart, Messi had beaten the offside trap but found the underside of the crossbar with a fierce left-footed shot. In the very next attack Dembélé mirrored Messi’s first-half finish, firing low across Werner and into the net for a fourth.

Daylight

Ivan Rakitic’s drilled half-volley on 51 for Barça’s fifth put daylight between the two teams for the first time in the match, and from then on it was one-way traffic. Just after the hour, Philippe Coutinho’s slide-rule pass into Messi saw the captain bag his second.

As the hosts took their foot off of the pedal the game began to drift, however, Jordi Alba had the Camp Nou faithful roaring again with a seventh on 81. Deep into injury-time, Suárez won and then converted a penalty, handing Barça an 8-2 victory which sees them top the table going into the international break.

Barça are next in action on September 15 at 4.15pm CEST, against Real Sociedad at the Anoeta Stadium.