FC Barcelona cruised to their sixth consecutive win of the season with a 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad here.
In the Camp Nou Stadium Tuesday, Neymar and Lionel Messi had put Barca 2-0 ahead by the 10th minute. Neymar scored his first league goal after good work from Alexis Sanchez caused a horrible mix up in the visitors' defence with everyone leaving the ball and Neymar walking the ball into an empty net, reports Xinhua.
The Brazilian then used his pace to create a second as he got to the byline and crossed for Messi to score with a diving header. Real Sociedad goalkeeper Claudio Bravo saved an attempted lob from the Brazilian while Xavi Hernandez had a goal ruled out for a previous offside decision.
Things went from bad to worse for Real Sociedad as midfielder Xabi Prieto was forced off with a muscle injury to be replaced by Imanol Agirretxe just before Sergio Busquets added Barca's third, moments after Messi had hit the crossbar.
The bad news for Barca was that central defender Javier Mascherano had to leave the game 10 minutes from halftime with an injury which could be significant given Barca's lack of defensive cover.
The second half began as the first ended with chances for Barca and Messi will be disappointed to have blasted over the bar after a typical run through the Real Sociedad defence while Bravo saved well from Neymar.
It was a one way traffic but Angel de la Bella gave the visitors a lifeline from close range after 63 minutes with good work from Agirretxe, provoking the best spell of the game from the San Sebastian side. Still, Barca continued to create chances and with 14 minutes remaining, Messi set up defender Marc Bartra for his side's fourth.
The game ended with Alexis hitting the Real Sociedad post with a header and the home fans standing to applaud the Barca players.
