WITH Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in top form, Barcelona needed less than 10 minutes to take care of Sevilla and keep the pressure on Real Madrid in the Spanish league Wednesday.

    Suarez scored with a bicycle kick and Messi struck twice within the next eight minutes on his return to action as Barcelona eased to a 3-0 victory in its pursuit of a third straight league title.

    Madrid also won, beating struggling Leganes 4-2 without Cristiano Ronaldo and several other regular starters to maintain a two-point lead over the Catalan club. Zinedine Zidane’s team also has a game in hand.

    Sevilla remained in fourth place, but is 13 points off the lead and virtually out of contention for the title with eight games remaining. Jorge Sampaoli’s team is still reeling from its elimination by Leicester in the last 16 of the Champions League and hasn’t won in five league matches.

    “The first half was spectacular,” Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said. “Sevilla never threatened us. In the end we lost some of the control of the match, but I’m very satisfied.”

    Suarez opened the scoring with his superb effort from inside the six-yard box. A pass by Messi deflected off a defender and the ball flew up in the air in front of the Uruguay striker, who flicked it over goalkeeper Sergio Rico in the 25th minute.

    Suarez has scored seven goals in his last seven games. His league total of 24 goals this season is three less than scoring leader Messi, who got his first of the night in the 28th minute with an easy shot from inside the area after a combination of passes between Neymar and Suarez.

    Messi, who struck the crossbar only minutes into the game, added to the lead in the 33rd with a left-foot shot after Sevilla defenders failed to fully clear a ball inside the box.

    (SD-Agencies)