Five-goal Barça sail past lowly Levante with fifth straight win
Five games, five wins, five clean sheets... Luis Enrique's Barcelona era continued in a winning fashion with a 5-0 win over la Liga's bottom club Levante.
Lionel Messi was once again in the thick of the action, although it is creating goals and not scoring them which he is excelling at so far this season.
His beautiful pass led to the first goal, which Neymar finished, and he also made the third for Sandro Ramirez, taking his tally of assists to six in all competitions.
A goal did eventually arrive from his boot too, but not before he had won and missed a penalty in the first half.
Another would have elevated the Argentine to 400 goals in his senior career, although that feat will have to wait for another occasion.
Ivan Rakitic, with a thumping effort from 20 yards, and Pedro scored Barça's other two goals.
Luis Enrique made eight changes from the side that beat APOEL in the Champions League, with Javier Mascherano and Jeremy Mathieu chosen ahead of Gerard Pique in defence.
Meanwhile, Munir El Haddadi dropped to the bench, meaning Messi is now the only player to start every match this season.
Levante made a lively start at the Ciutat de Valencia, throwing early caution to the wind in a move which may have surprised Barcelona given their usually defensive reputation.
Fortunately Rakitic was on hand when Morales made a mockery of Mathieu early on, racing to the byline and delivering a cross which looked like enabling Victor Casadesus to open the scoring.
The Croatian appeared from nowhere, though, busting a gut and showing he's prepared to graft for the good of the team by nicking the ball away for a corner.
Neymar had already been denied by goalkeeper Jesus once when he opened the scoring in the 34th minute.
Drifting inside, Messi's sumptuous pass sent his Brazilian colleague clean through to round Jesus and roll the ball home.
Loukas Vyntra was then sent off for hauling Messi down in the area, but Barça's No. 10 missed the chance to double his side's lead, blazing wide of the taget.
It needn't have mattered, however, as Rakitic soon blasted an unstoppable drive home from just outside the area.
The Blaugrana's win was tainted when Neymar hobbled off minutes into the second half, but it was his replacement Sandro who got the third goal.
And it was Sandro's flick which then allowed Jordi Alba to set up Pedro, before Messi, ending his run of assists, scored his third goal of the season with a trademark chip.
A trip to Malaga on Wednsday is next up for Luis Enrique's side, with Granada due at Camp Nou next Saturday.
