Neymar hits 100 as Barca stay in hunt
MADRID: Barcelona made light of the suspended Lionel Messi’s absence to remain two points behind La Liga leaders Real Madrid as Neymar netted his 100th goal for the club in a 4-1 win at Granada.
Earlier, Madrid consolidated their advantage at the top thanks to goals from Karim Benzema, Isco and Nacho to beat Alaves 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid still also have a game in hand and the two will meet at the Bernabeu in three weeks’ time.
“The games after an international break are always special because the players travel a lot and accumulate tiredness,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.
“Playing away from home makes it even more difficult, but we overcame those problems very well.”
Enrique, though, hopes the 25-year-old remains at Barca long after he steps down as coach at the end of the campaign.
“I hope he scores 900 more goals and we can continue to watch him for many years at Barcelona,” he said.
Barca could have used Messi’s precision in front of goal as they passed up a host of chances in the first-half at Nuevo Los Carmenes.
Luis Suarez did eventually make the breakthrough when he sent a lovely dinked effort over the helpless Ochoa from Jordi Alba’s through ball.
Granada sent on Jeremie Boga, on loan from Chelsea, at the start of the second-half and he took just five minutes to level with a low finish into the far corner.
However, Barca retook the lead 13 minutes later when this time Suarez turned provider for Alcacer to net just his fourth goal since joining from Valencia in August.
Any chance of a Granada revival was ended when Uche Agbo was shown a second yellow card eight minutes from time.
Seconds later Barca make the game safe when Ivan Rakitic drilled into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
And Neymar rounded off the win with his 100th goal on his 177th appearance when he tapped home Alcacer’s cross at the far post.
At the Bernabeu, the European champions were grateful to Alaves’ wastefulness in front of goal as they moved a step closer to a first title in five years.
“Playing every three days you can’t always play perfectly for 90 minutes,” said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
“We were having problems, we weren’t playing well and then all of a sudden Cristiano [Ronaldo] gets the ball, passes it to Isco and he controls and scores.
“That is what this team has. We know that at any moment we can hurt the opponent.”