Five talking points from Barcelona’s 8-2 win over Huesca

Jordi Alba shows Spain what they’ll be missing

Luis Enrique’s decision to leave Jordi Alba out of his Spain squad was made to look even more ridiculous as the left-back helped hand Huesca a thrashing.

The defender was a constant threat down the left side, forced the own goal and then set up Luis Suarez for his first goal of the season.

He even joined in the scoring towards the end of the game as he grabbed Barcelona’s seventh goal. It was the perfect response to being dropped by the national team.

Suarez finally gets going

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It’s taken a couple of games but Luis Suarez finally came good for Barcelona with two goals, an assist and a vastly improved showing.

The Uruguayan tapped home his first from a Jordi Alba cross, set up Ousmane Dembele for the fourth with a great pass, and then put the icing on the cake by winning the penalty and scoring the resulting spot kick.

It was a much-needed showing from Suarez who has been pretty awful so far this season. Hopefully the goals will give him confidence and he can kick on from here.

Barca defence needs to sharpen up

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Huesca caught Barcelona cold by taking a shock lead within minutes of kick off on their first La Liga visit to the Camp Nou.

The visitors deserve credit for their approach, but it was pretty poor defending from Barcelona with Jordi Alba, Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique all over the place.

It was the same story for the second goal as some poor marking allowed Alex Gallar to bring Huesca back to 3-2.

Barcelona’s defence was a huge strength last season with just 29 goals conceded in 38 games, but on this evidence it needs to sharpen up.

Barca starting to see the real Coutinho and Dembele

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While Barcelona’s defence were not at their best, it was a different story entirely for the attack which scored eight and had enough chances to reach double figures.

Philippe Coutinho did not find his name on the scoresheet but still put in a superb display. He put Messi clean through with a gorgeous pass for Barca’s sixth.

Ousmane Dembele also scored for the second week running, as he continues to cement his place in the first team. Perhaps tellingly he also lasted 90 minutes this week.

Messi shows true class with Suarez gesture

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Messi was once again his usual brilliant self with a couple of great goals, two assists and a generally superb all round display.

Yet what also stood out was his gesture to Suarez in stoppage time. The Uruguayan won a penalty and Messi showed little hesitation in tossing him the ball, despite being on a hat-trick.

Messi’s penalty record suggests a hat-trick was not a given, but it was still further evidence of what an incredibly special player he is.