Suarez earns Barcelona late win; Vinicius lifts Real Madrid gloom

Barcelona opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-2 win over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Luis Suarez scored the 90th-minute winner after Rayo had come back from a goal behind. The Uruguayn striker now has nine La Liga goals and is the league’s top scorer.

It was his fifth goal in a week and asked if he plays better without Lionel Messi, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde grinned: “I think they all play better with Messi.”

Suarez opened the scoring from Jordi Alba’s cross on 11 minutes but Jose Pozo levelled for Rayo on 36 minutes and Alvaro Garcia put them in front 11 minutes into the second half.

Barcelona coach Valverde threw Gerard Pique forward as the emergency centre-forward and he nodded down for substitute Ousmane Dembele to score the equaliser through a crowded area.

Suarez struck again on 90 minutes when he connected with Jordi Alba’s cross.   

“We took the lead but were then guilty of relaxing,” Suarez admitted after the game. “Maybe we were complacent but they deserve some credit because of the way they came back.”

Rayo's Pozo said: “We knew that Barcelona would keep coming at us. It’s a shame to let the lead slip in front of our own supporters.”

“They put Pique up front as a last resort. To lose the game after coming back from 1-0 down is so frustrating,” Rayo coach Miguel Angel Sanchez said.

The win enabled Barcelona to take advantage of Atletico Madrid failing to beat Leganes earlier Saturday. The teams played out a 1-1 draw with Guido Carillo scoring from close range to cancel out Antoine Griezmann’s goal from a free-kick.

Earlier, Real Madrid moved up to sixth having won their first La Liga match since September thanks largely to the intervention of 18-year-old substitute Vinicius Junior.

They beat Valladolid 2-0, but the game had been goalless with the visitors twice having hit the frame of the goal when the Brazilian youngster came on with 17 minutes left.

On 83 minutes his shot was deflected past Valladolid goalkeeper Jordi Masip by defender Kiko Olivas for the opening goal.

And five minutes later he passed to Karim Benzema who was brought down in the area. Sergio Ramos scored the penalty to give caretaker coach Santiago Solari a winning league start.

Before the intervention of the teenager, Madrid had suffered against a team yet to lose away from home this season.

They were also whistled at by their own supporters as it seemed they would extend their run without a league win to six games.

"When things don’t go well you have to stay calm. The run we are on and the change in coach made it difficult," captain Ramos said.

"We had the whistles to contend with too but after the first goal went in the stadium lifted and we felt the people were back behind us, backing a team that has won so many trophies."