Barcelona thrashed Granada 4-1 at the Los Carmenes in the La Liga on Sunday without Lionel Messi in their line-up. Messi was serving a one-game ban and was watching from the sidelines.

It was Luis Suarez who scored the first goal of the night as Barcelona took a 1-0 lead. However, Jeremie Boga equalized for Granada as Barcelona needed a win to be in the title hunt.

Luis Suarez’s exquisite lob just before half-time opened the scoring before on-loan Chelsea midfielder Jeremie Boga equalised with a composed finish. Paco Alcacer restored Barcelona’s lead before Uche Agbo was sent off for two yellow cards. Ivan Rakitic and Neymar scored the third and fourth goal respectively as Barcelona grabbed all three points. They are now on second spot with 66 points, two short of Real Madrid, who also have a game in hand.

Real Madrid stay ahead

Real Madrid recorded their fourth straight league win as they beat Alaves 3-0 to top the La Liga table with 10 games in hand. Karim Benzema put Zinedine Zidane’s side ahead after a clever assist from Dani Carvajal’s fine pass. Isco made it 2-0 before Nacho’s header completed the 3-0 win. Real Madrid is looking for their first league title since 2012. Earlier, Sevilla slipped out of the top three after being held to a goalless draw at home to struggling Sporting Gijon.