Three successive defeats in the Spanish La Liga had taken a bit of the sheen out of Barcelona with their nine-point lead at the top cut down to zero. So how did the Catalan giants respond? Simple – by routing Deportivo de La Coruna 8-0 at their home at the Estadio Riazor on Wednesday.

At the heart of the trouncing was Luis Suarez, who popped in an eye-catching five goals, easy as you like, and even contributed three assists to the mix. But it was a party where all of Barcelona's finest made merry – Lionel Messi created a goal and then scored one in the 73rd minute, Ivan Rakitic and Marc Batra had one each while Neymar finished it off with a close-range goal in the 81st minute.

Despite the victory though, the race to the trophy still remains neck-to-neck. Second-placed on goal difference, Atletico Madrid also won against Athletic Bilbao to ensure they remain level on points with Barcelona with Real Madrid one point behind in third. With four games to go, Barcelona will need to ensure that this performance wasn't a blip and continue their marauding ways.