BARCELONA: Neymar’s double helped Barcelona cruise to a 5-0 victory in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last 16 tie against Elche on Thursday to ease the pressure on coach Luis Enrique.

The Brazilian put the Catalan club ahead after 34 minutes when he fired home following a well worked move and after that the flood gates opened against the bottom side in La Liga.

Luis Suarez scored his fourth goal this season when he deftly dribbled past defender Sergio Pelegrin before fooling goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton into diving the wrong way in the 40th.

Lionel Messi, who was the focus of attention following a reported bust-up with Enrique, looked very motivated from the start with some lively runs and converted a penalty just before halftime at the Nou Camp after Neymar was felled by defender Enzo Roco.

Jordi Alba added a fourth after the break before Neymar rounded off the scoring in style with a powerful drive from 20 yards out.

The win eased the tension at Barca in a week in which sports director Andoni Zubizarreta was fired, the appeal against a one-year transfer ban was lost, and they fell at Real Sociedad in La Liga.

Barring a meltdown in the return leg on Jan 15, Barca will face the winners of the tie between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in the last eight.

Earlier, Sevilla took a big step towards securing their place in the last eight with a 2-1 win at Andalusian rivals Granada.

Goals from Barca loanee Gerard Deulofeu and Kevin Gameiro either side of half-time put the visitors on course to victory, but Lass Bangoura’s injury time strike on his Granada debut gives Joaquin Caparros’ men a ray of hope heading into next week’s return leg at the Sanchez Pizjuan.

Published in Dawn January 10th , 2014

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