Luis Suarez continued his goal splurge by scoring four times to help Barcelona stay atop the Spanish league on Saturday, while Real Madrid needed a stellar performance from Gareth Bale to remain in the title hunt.
Suarez scored his eighth goal in four days to fuel a 6-0 rout of Sporting Gijon, following another four-goal outing in an 8-0 destruction of Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
Bale netted two goals, including a late winner, to lead a 3-2 fightback at Rayo Vallecano in a match that Madrid entered without Cristiano Ronaldo and finished without Karim Benzema due to leg injuries.
Barcelona stayed level on points with Atletico Madrid after it ground out a 1-0 win over Malaga following the sending off of coach Diego Simeone at halftime.
Madrid remained a point behind in third place with three rounds left. Barcelona holds tiebreakers against both challengers.
Suarez’s goals at Camp Nou, which all came in the second half and twice from the penalty spot, took him to the top of the league scorers’ list with 34, moving past Ronaldo’s 31.
Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Barcelona, while Neymar added a third penalty against an error-prone Sporting that remained in the relegation zone.
Suarez, who surpassed his 31 for Liverpool that led the English Premier League in 2013-14, said he was “surprised” by his recent scoring run. He also gave credit to Messi.
“Leo is the one who knows what the team needs at all times,” Suarez said. “His magic is always there and he showed it tonight.”
With back-to-back wins by a combined score of 14-0, Barcelona has re-established its command of a competition it looked set to win easily before a stunning run of four rounds without a win reopened the race.
In the capital, Rayo stunned Madrid by leading 2-0 by the 14th minute, thanks to goals by Adrian Embarba and Ladislao “Miku” Fedor.
Bale’s header pulled one back before Benzema went off with a leg injury and was replaced by Lucas Vazquez, who came through with a headed goal of his own in the 52nd.
Just when Madrid’s rally was sputtering, Bale intercepted a pass and raced forward to score the 81st—minute winner.
“Being the hero isn’t important, winning and keeping up the fight for La Liga is,” Bale said. “It was difficult, but we showed great character and spirit to get the three points”.
Thrilled with his team’s comeback, coach Zinedine Zidane was also concerned about Benzema with their Champions League semifinal first-leg at Manchester City on Tuesday.
“We will have to see if (Benzema) can play at City,” he said. “It is a blow.”
While Madrid looks to England, Atletico will focus on Bayern Munich’s visit in the other Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.
Atletico was unfazed by Simeone being banished to watch the second half from the stands as a punishment for a ball being thrown onto the pitch from the dugout.
Malaga defended well until substitute Angel Correa went on. Five minutes later the attacking midfielder struck a long ball that took a deflection to bend around goalie Guillermo Ochoa for the 62nd—minute winner.
“It was a very hard match, but we are happy to get another win,” Correa said.
Eibar hosted Deportivo La Coruna late.
