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The notion of a crisis is nebulous and ethereal.
What is a crisis, exactly? Where do you draw the parameters for one? And on whose terms is one declared? After all, Barcelona's crisis would probably be the high point in most other clubs' existence. And the Spanish soccer press is fond of calling crises, designating every Barca blip as a nuclear meltdown. Because, I suppose, in context, anything short of total dominance and transcendent play is significant.
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But in this instance, the dreaded term for soccering dysfunction was probably warranted.
Barcelona, after all, hadn't lost a league game in 23 La Liga contests when it lost the Clasico to Real Madrid at home, dropped the next two league games to Real Sociedad and Valencia, and let a sly and cunning Atletico Madrid sucker-punch them in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. The star-studded forward line of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez had returned from the international break with their South American countries short on form and long on fatigue. Manager Luis Enrique sparred with the press over the accusation he hadn't rotated his squad enough. And to make matters worse, club icon, conscience and spiritual leader Johan Cruyff unexpectedly died of lung cancer at age 68, just before this wretched stretch.
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In the span of two weeks, a nine-point league lead over Atletico was squandered and whittled down to zero, the continental campaign stranded prematurely and the effort to duplicate last season's treble was summarily dismantled. It was the worst stretch in more than a decade.
So yes, crisis.
But there was hardly any telling in the midweek slate of La Liga fixtures on Wednesday, when Barca smashed Deportivo La Coruna 8-0.
At the Riazor, Suarez got a first look in the seventh minute and Messi was denied point-blank in the 11th. And then, on the ensuing corner, Suarez volleyed home and ignited the riot of goals.
Celso Borges got a glorious chance at the other end, on Claudio Bravo's doorstep. The crisis, it looked for a flash, could go on. But the Costa Rican got his finish wrong.
And then when Borges got another fine look, Marc Bartra recovered from his mistake to block the shot and then Oriol Riera somehow popped it over.
Barcelona's fortunes had turned.
In the 25th minute, Suarez scored again, on Messi's divine flick.
And when, before halftime, Messi was seemingly hurt and Suarez missed another sitter – like he had early on in the Clasico – things seemed to be going wrong again. But it didn't matter. Because Messi got up and played on, seemingly without any discomfort, and Barca would get six more goals.
The margin of error has returned. The balls bounce in Barca's favor again. The wind blows at their backs. They are the darlings of the soccer gods once more, who are done smiting them for whatever sins they had committed. The Catalans converted chances and Depor blew theirs. As things were meant to be – probably.
Right after halftime, Suarez teed up Ivan Rakitic, who volleyed it in to make it 3-0.
And in the 53rd minute, Suarez got his hat trick. Messi poked a ball through to the Uruguayan, who toed it home.
Suarez wasn't done, though. An otherwise underwhelming Neymar set him up again in the 64th minute. And the bucktoothed striker had plenty of time to ensure that he wouldn't waste another chance. And suddenly, he trails league leader Cristiano Ronaldo by a lone goal in the pichichi. The Portuguese has 31 goals for the year, to Suarez's 30.
Then, Suarez spun away from his defender as if he was air, and handed Messi a goal on a platter.
Bartra, a defender, got in on the act next, winning the ball in midfield, strolling through the Deportivo defense and making it seven.
And, finally, Suarez added a third assist to his four-goal night by setting up Neymar.
8-0.
Luis Enrique smiled a rare smile along the sideline.
Crisis over.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
- Sports & Recreation
- Soccer
- Barcelona
- Luis Suarez
- Lionel Messi
