Neymar hits brace as Barca’s rampant strikers sink Sociedad

BARCELONA, November 28

A Neymar double, a spectacular volley from Luis Suarez and a goal for Lionel Messi saw Barcelona’s unstoppable strike force sweep aside Real Sociedad 4-0 on Saturday and extend their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points.

Neymar slotted home a Dani Alves cross after 22 minutes and Alves was again the provider for Suarez who acrobatically beat Real keeper Geronimo Rulli before halftime to take his tally to 11 goals in seven games.

La Liga’s top scorer Neymar took his total to 14 this season as he knocked in a Jeremy Mathieu cross after 53 minutes and in injury time he set up Messi to score from close range. Barca have 33 points from 13 games.

Astonishingly, the trio’s latest heroics meant that Messi, Neymar and Suarez have so far scored 125 goals between them in all competitions for Barca over the calendar year.

“Between them, they look for each other all the time and the objective is for them to be happy which happens when they score,” Alves said.

Suarez could have put Barca ahead within three minutes as he went through on goal but Rulli got down well to block his shot and the Real keeper had to be alert again to take the ball off the feet of Neymar, who tried to go around him. Andres Iniesta was close to scoring with a rare header from a Suarez cross but the ball came back off the left post.

City beat Saints, Palace rout Newcastle 5-1

London: Manchester City beat Southampton 3-1 in Premier League. City, thrashed 4-1 at home by Liverpool last week, took an early grip with a tap-in from Kevin de Bruyne and a shot from the edge of the box from Fabian Delph inside the opening 20 minutes before Shane Long headed in for Saints soon after halftime.

Crystal Palace closed the gap on the leaders when they thrashed struggling Newcastle United 5-1 at Selhurst Park after Newcastle scored first through Papiss Cisse after 10 minutes.

Bayern cruise past Hertha to go 11 points clear

Berlin: Unbeaten Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich opened up an 11-point gap at the top after goals from Thomas Mueller and Kingsley Coman eased them past Hertha Berlin 2-0 on Saturday, their 13th win in 14 league games. The champions, looking for a record fourth straight Bundesliga title, are on 40 points and, with three games left, will go into next month’s winter break in top spot. — Reuters