Sporting Gijon 1-3 Barcelona: Five talking points

Barcelona danced their way to extend their advantage on the top of the La Liga table to six points on Wednesday night, thrashing a willingly depleted Sporting Gijon side 3-1. Lionel Messi’s 300th goal in La Liga in Barcelona’s shirt put the league leaders ahead and his second hit a historic team milestone.Carlos Castro had brought the home side immediately back into the contest after Messi fired home the opener. However, there was no respite for Gijon as Messi doubled his tally for the night quite soon after some wonderful play from Luis Suarez.While Luis Suarez was denied a goal from the penalty by the acrobatics of Ivan Cuellar, the Uruguayan soon made up for the trouble with a superb finish. The strike ensured Barcelona’s seventh win on the trot in La Liga this season.Here are the five biggest talking points from the game at El Molinon.

#1 Lionel Messi is worth writing a history book on

Messi crossed the 300-goal mark for Barcelona

Another game, another record. When it comes to Lionel Messi we have heard it all before, “Cometh the hour, cometh the man”. In Catalan folklore, that might soon be changed to “Cometh the hour, cometh Lionel Messi.”

On a night when Barcelona was made to unlock another stubborn defence where eleven men were running behind the ball, they looked up to the Argentine to sprinkle his magic on the proceedings and he duly obliged. While Sporting Gijon can hardly be blamed for putting a foot wrong, Messi made them believe in ‘divine intervention’.

The Argentine international enthralled us again with two superb goals. His first of the night helped him reach another milestone; this time crossing 300 La Liga goals. His second meanwhile made it 301, just for good measure.

The Argentine also helped Barcelona to reach a milestone of their own, as his second was the Blaugrana’s 10,000th goal. This also made the Argentine talisman scorer of 5.2% of Barcelona’s total La Liga goals and 4.38% of goals scored in all competitions.

#2 Alen Halilovic is worth keeping an eye on

Halilovic is a name to keep an eye on

Everyone in Barcelona was excited when they picked up this wiry framed kid from Dynamo Zagreb last year named Alen Hilalovic. Now we know why. Halilovic, who has been loaned out to Sporting Gijon was allowed to play against his parent club and he certainly strutted his stuff out for all to see.

In a game that the kid had to do more of the running without the ball, the Croatian did not fail to impress. Not only was is work rate commendable but the few times he got on the ball was also worthy of drawing admiration. By the end of the day, many people wouldn’t argue if someone would say that he certainly has the ‘Barca class’.

The young Croatian might need to put on a few pounds, but his potential was undeniably on display. Halilovic seemed to fly across the pitch with ease while also having the ability to keep his head and seek out that killer ball. The nimble-footed youngster’s left foot seemed sometimes to be too quick for himself, but with more experience and exposure he is sure to get better.

Alen Halilovic. It’s a name certainly to keep an eye on.

#3 Barcelona are just in a world of their own

Barcelona’s pass map leading to Messi’s first goal

The Catalans rested the likes of Iniesta and Dani Alves for this game. But they won this one without even going out of second gear it seemed. In fact, they again missed a penalty, but more on that later.

Barcelona are in a league of their own at the moment and no one will be surprised if they wrap up LaLiga in record time. The win means that Barcelona have now gone 31 games unbeaten, of which 26 have been wins. No one on the horizon looks to be even minutely close to their level of excellence and panache.

Neymar, in fact, had one of the most horrible games many have seen playing in the red and blue of Barcelona. Arda Turan too failed to replace Iniesta in the truest sense. But, it was all too easy for the Catalans. Except for the odd pacy counter-attack, Gijon looked like a side that already knew it’s fate before the game even began.

It was 21 years since Gijon last beat Barca and Luis Enrique’s men seemed in no mood to alter the record books. As for Arsenal coming into their game against the Blaugranes, all we can truly do is wish them luck.

#4 Barcelona and their penalties

When will Barcelona’s penalty woes end?

Barcelona saw their recent travails from the penalty spot continue. Having been awarded 16 penalties so far this season, they have scored only eight times directly from them. Even though Lionel Messi’s theatric from last weekend against Celta Vigo counts against these stats, the number still doesn’t make much sense at all.

With Neymar having missed a hat-trick of spot-kicks this season and Messi too having contributed to a couple of mishaps, it was Luis Suarez this time who has awarded the duties of tucking the ball away from the spot. However, even the enigmatic Uruguayan failed to slot home the golden opportunity as Ivan Cuellar came up big to deny Suarez.

While Suarez made amends for his miss a few minutes later, Barcelona’s story about their penalties is really too odd and doesn’t make sense when you find three of the best finishers in the world coming over to take them. For all the machine-like superlatives the Catalans have drawn towards themselves with their play, this is one bug they are yet to fix.

#5 Luis Suarez has become a special player in his own right

There’s no stopping Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez mesmerized Anfield with his sublime touches, quick change of speed and delightful finishes. He was a maverick that delighted all of Liverpool and was a polarizing figure in England. But above all the scandals, the newspaper reports and the theatric, he was just a brilliant individual player.

When he came to Barcelona, many thought he might end up as a sideshow to Lionel Messi and Neymar, whom many counted as the next big thing. But in a year and a half, the Uruguayan has been able to carve out his own niche in the Barcelona team and also their history.

With his wonderful individual goal against Sporting Gijon, he became only the third Barcelona player ever to score 40 goals in a season after Lionel Messi and the Brazilian Ronaldo. His telepathic coordination with Messi and Neymar have brought the world of football to its knees. And his own individual progression has left many astounded.

This may still be “Messi’s team” but he has more than made an impact on Catalan football history. It’s only because of his presence alongside Messi and Neymar that Barcelona can aspire to be as great as they were under Pep Guardiola.