Neymar scored a hat-trick as Barcelona thumped Granada 6-0 at the Camp Nou on Saturday afternoon.

Lionel Messi (2) and Ivan Rakitic were also on the scoresheet as the Catalan outfit ran riot on their own patch.

Here, Sports Mole dissects the 90 minutes of action between the two La Liga rivals.

Match statistics

Barcelona
Shots: 17
On target: 12
Possession: 70%
Corners: 8
Fouls: 11

Granada
Shots: 7
On target: 1
Possession: 30%
Corners: 1
Fouls: 11

Was the result fair?

In truth, Barcelona were just far too good for Granada this afternoon. The visitors have made a decent start to the season, but came up against a Barca team that are starting to find full flow. It is important to note that Granada made the brighter start to proceedings and indeed caused problems in the early stages of the contest, but ultimately it was their willingness to attack that left serious gaps for the home side to exploit down the other end.

Granada will not be the last team to take a thumping from Barcelona this season, with the likes of Messi and Neymar starting to hit top form. Granada can just be happy that a certain Luis Suarez was not involved at the Camp Nou or it could have been much worse.

Barcelona's performance

The Catalan outfit were held to a goalless draw by Malaga during the week, but returned to their best form this afternoon. Head coach Luis Enrique brought Xavi into the middle of his midfield and the veteran repaid the faith with a wonderful display.

Munir El-Haddadi had a quiet match in relation to his fellow attackers, with Messi and Neymar both in excellent form. Add into the equation a fine performance from Rakitic and that was always going to spell trouble for the away side. Due to Barcelona's dominance of the ball, Dani Alves and Adriano played as wingers, with Sergio Busquets dropping to help his defence.

There was not a single period where the home side looked to be struggling as they utterly dominated proceedings. As mentioned above, they still have Suarez to come into their team, which is bad news for their rivals in both Spain and abroad. In addition, they are still yet to concede a single goal in the league this season.

Granada's performance

For 26 minutes, Granada were well in the match at the Camp Nou, with the pace of Isaac Success in the final third causing problems to the Barcelona defence. That all changed when Neymar found the back of the net, before two goals at the end of the first period allowed the home side to lead 3-0 at the break. A one-goal deficit would not have been the end of the world at the end of the first period, but two more Barca goals all but ended the contest.

It was always going to be a struggle in the second period as Barcelona dominated possession of the ball and their tiredness showed past the hour mark. They could have been forgiven for shutting up shop at 3-0, but they did try to cause problems as the match advanced. In the end, they were just beaten by the better team, but they can take some positives from what has been a decent start to the season.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Lionel Messi: What more can be said about the Argentine? Neymar scored a hat-trick, but this award has to go to Messi, who was just sublime at the Camp Nou. He has been the go-to player for assists this season and contributed another two in this match, while he also found the back of the net on two occasions. The attacker just radiated class each time he had possession of the ball and in this form, he is just unplayable.

Biggest gaffe

It mattered little in terms of the result, but Granada defender Jeison Murillo had a bit of a horror in the latter stages when he slipped in possession of the ball, allowing Messi to break through and score his second of the match. Barcelona were already 5-0 ahead at the time, but it was really poor defending from the centre-back, who struggled all evening.

Referee performance

Juan Martinez had a fairly comfortable evening at the Camp Nou. The Spaniard issued just the three yellow cards during a match which lacked any major incidents. Martinez also allowed the play to flow in the correct areas and was always up with the action in Catalonia. Neither manager will have any complaints about his performance during the contest.

What next?

Barcelona: Barca continue their Champions League group campaign away to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, before returning to league action away to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.

Granada: Next up for Granada in the league is a trip to Malaga next Saturday.