La Liga: FC Barcelona 6-1 Rayo Vallecano: Player Ratings

The game started a bit shaky for Bravo with the Chilean badly misjudging a cross from the right, but he recovered quickly and played a very good game from there on. Still, the clean sheet eluded him. While he was able to stop all the shots from play, Bravo was hung out to dry by his defense which gave up a late penalty that he had no chance of stopping. Bravo was very involved in play build up in this one, making more touches and passes than he usually does, but not once did he look likely to cough up the ball, despite high pressure from Rayo Vallecano.

I really don’t know what to write about our beloved Brazilian right-back anymore. I mean, the one time he actually tried to make a defensive play deep inside Barcelona territory he gave up a penalty and picked up a red card. Sure, he won back possession many times for Barcelona, but he very often lost the ball as well. Alves also had a couple chances to score a goal or two, but all his shots either missed the target or were blocked altogether. All that considered, it’s hard to find a single truly positive point in his game against Rayo.

Yet another encouraging performance from Pique who was solid in both ends of the pitch. He didn’t need to make many defensive plays as the work was spread out through the back four fairly evenly, but when he needed to stand tall he did just that. He capped off his defensive play with a goal off a rebound, showing good instincts, setting a new career high in goals scored in La Liga. There were a couple negative points as well in his game. His communication with the goalkeeper has again been lacking and his long passing was often terribly off the mark.

Throughout the time he spent on the pitch before being subbed off Alba, was like the energizer bunny, running up and down the pitch, making run after run, and always looking to contribute in attack. He wasn’t officially credited with the assist, but his header off the frame of the goal on a corner kick was key for Pique’s goal on the rebound. On that note: Alba won a header on a corner kick!!! Defensively he didn’t need to do much, but he did just enough to pick up a yellow card that will see him miss the game against Eibar with a suspension.

Mascherano’s patrolling of the midfield helped to keep any Rayo counterattacks to a minimum and on the rare occasion they did break through, one of the back four was there to stop it.  However he was sometimes a little reckless going into some challenges and earned himself a yellow card in the first half. He is never going to be as creative minded as Busquets but with Xavi and Iniesta ahead of him he didn't need to be.

The first half was a footballing masterclass from Xavi on how to play as a midfielder. He was constantly looking for the ball over the top to find the ever willing runner Luis Suárez. This was the method that brought about the first goal, a linked through ball by the Spaniard before the Uruguayan finished brilliantly. With the man advantage, Xavi’s job was made a lot easier and he continued to dictate the play.

A stellar performance in which he produced those trademark dribbles that allow him to take the ball into dangerous areas. There were no direct assists for him but his ball was often the pass that led to the assist. His connection with the sidemen of Pedro, Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba was a particular effective outsource during the game.

In a word: unplayable. This was arguably Suarez' most effective performance for the Blaugrana to date although to an extent it equally represented what is increasingly being considered as "business as usual" for the Uruguayan. Picking up exactly where he left off against the likes of Manchester City and Villarreal, Suarez terrorised the Rayo backline right from the offset, serving as a constant menace courtesy of his strength and incisive movement. Make no mistake: the upturn in Suarez' form is one of the premier reasons behind our ascendancy back to top spot in La Liga.

Another hat-trick for our mercurial Argentine as he tied Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for the Pichichi with that second-half triple, even if his overall performance wasn't entirely as memorable as the headline may imply. In the first-half Messi was largely anonymous and he did miss his first attempt at the penalty, but few can argue with the end result: I'll take an average display and a hat-trick any day of the week.

One can't help but feel sorry for Pedro; he probably played quite a good game, but with Suarez at his very best and Messi grabbing a hat-trick, his positive contributions were missed by the majority of Cules, who in turn focused on some of the more disappointing areas of his display. For instance, he messed up some promising counter-attacks/one-on-one situations but hey, it's not like it cost us anything in this match.

A nice, casual cameo appearance for the Croatian midfielder who got a little more experience playing at pivote: an area that Luis Enrique seems keen to experiment with given Sergio Busquets' absence.

More experience and more game-time for the young Brazilian who replaced Andres Iniesta with a little under half-an-hour left to play. Even in a cameo appearance, Rafinha involved himself in the play well and even played a part in one of our late goals. Let's hope he continues to impress in the coming weeks and months.

Replacing Jordi Alba in a blowout victory -- this probably isn't the best game to judge Adriano on -- but there were positives. For instance, his ability to seamlessly switch from the left-hand side of defense to the right-hand side of a back three after Alves' red card.

Close to flawless from the team as a whole; although unfortunately not every opposition will be quite as porous as Rayo Vallecano were on Sunday. By the same token, we can't afford to be as wasteful as we were on Sunday against better opposition either; imagine wasting chance after chance against Real Madrid? Yeah...I can't see that working out too well either. A nice confidence booster though: proof we have "still got it".

Selecting Xavi and Andres Iniesta together in midfield again was pure genius, and resisting the urge to rest some key players really paid off as well. Subs were well-timed -- just about everything went perfectly for Lucho on Sunday and that weekend as a whole. Long may it continue!

Can anybody remember the last time the man that scored the hat-trick was not named Man of the Match? Me neither. But Suarez managed just that against Rayo, edging Messi who collected 42% of the votes. Xavi finished in a distant third position with 5%.