Luis Suarez's hot streak continued on Saturday as the Uruguayan inspired Barcelona's 3-1 win over Granada in La Liga.

The former Liverpool star, who netted twice in Wednesday's 2-1 Champions League triumph at Manchester City, scored his fourth goal in as many matches and had a hand in two more, ensuring Barca bounced back from their shock 1-0 defeat to Malaga last weekend.

Suarez played a crucial role in Barca's first, setting up Ivan Rakitic for an easy finish with just under half-an-hour played at Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes.

And the pair switched roles at the start of the second half, as the Croatia playmaker teed up Suarez to open a two-goal lead.

Granada swiftly responded, as Fran Rico buried a 53rd-minute penalty, but the Catalans killed off any hopes of a revival in the 70th minute, with Lionel Messi tapping in for his 27th league goal of the season following more impressive play by Suarez.

The visitors had no problems holding on to their lead and they could have made the victory even more comfortable, but regardless of missing late chances, the triumph sees Barca move back to within a point of Real Madrid, who face Villarreal on Sunday.

Luis Enrique resisted the urge to rotate his key players in the wake of Barca's Champions League exploits in Manchester, with Messi, Neymar and Suarez all starting once again.

Suarez was somewhat fortunate not to see his game cut short in the 15th minute, though, as he caught Juan Cala in the face with a swing of his elbow.

And the forward ultimately proved integral as Barca opened the scoring 10 minutes later, playing the ball across the face of goal towards Rakitic, who could not miss after pouncing on a failed clearance by former Sevilla team-mate Cala.

Messi went close to doubling Barca's lead with 35 minutes on the clock, but after flicking the ball beyond a defender, the Argentina star smashed his half-volley agonisingly over.

Barca eventually added a second two minutes into the second half, as Suarez raced on to Rakitic's incisive pass and coolly poked the ball past Oier in the Granada goal.

The hosts received a boost to their chances a few moments later through Rico, though, as the midfielder converted from the spot following a foul by Marc Bartra on Lass Bangoura.

But any fight-back from the hosts was quashed 20 minutes from time.

Suarez was at the fore once again, chasing down a long ball and racing beyond Oier, before providing Messiwith a simple finish instead of knocking into an unguarded net himself.

Barca could have added more in the final 10 minutes as Messi went close twice, but the missed opportunities ultimately had no effect, with the away side cruising to a straightforward win.

11:12:00

The Manchester City midfielder admits the upcoming Champions League last-16 tie is a daunting prospect but is confident the Premier League champions can cause the Catalans problems
Frank Lampard feels Manchester City face a tough test against Barcelona in the Champions League, admitting the strengths of the Catalan outfit "smack you the face".

The 36-year-old has faced the Liga giants 10 times in the Champions League but had tasted defeat just twice, including victory in the semi-final as Chelsea went on to win the competition in 2012.

And Lampard believes that, although facing the Spanish outfit is always a daunting prospect, City can progress to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history if they play by their strengths.

"With the Champions League, especially against a team like Barcelona, you have to be aware of their strengths. They smack you in the face at times with the amount of them (passes)," Lampard told reporters.

"We'll be aware of that and it will come into our work before the game but in the home game, for sure, we want to use our own strengths.

"We need to look to use the home advantage and use our strengths. It's about finding a middle ground but for sure, we'll look to attack."

06:07:00

The result means Barca are once again only a point behind leaders Real Madrid, who beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 on Saturday.

Neymar scored the opener with an effort that spun in off his foot, before Messi drilled in, tapped home his second and then made it 4-0 from the spot.

Luis Suarez scored the goal of the game when he acrobatically volleyed in.

It was a stunning finish by the substitute that mirrored the excellent performance by Barca, who have now won their last 11 games in all competitions - equalling the streak in 2008-09 under then coach Pep Guardiola.

Barca opened the scoring in rather fortunate circumstances when Neymar's strike, from Messi's delivery, spun up in the air before dropping just over the line.

Less bizarre was the Barcelona's second. Messi was again alert to what was going on behind him, latching on to Marc Bartra's pass before firing in.

Messi's La Liga record
The mercurial maestro has now scored 269 goals in 300 league matches - an average of 0.89 goals per game

And it was 3-0 14 minutes after the break, when the Argentine forward tapped in after Pedro brilliantly diverted Sergio Busquets's chipped ball into his path. The 27-year-old then completed his hat-trick with 26th league goal of the season - a penalty after Ivan Lopez had bundled over Neymar.

The Brazilian was later taken off and replaced by £75m summer signing Suarez. The Uruguay forward, who had only scored four times this season, marked his cameo appearance with on outstanding goal, converting Adriano's cross from the left with a scissor-kick volley.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique:

"Records are obviously positive, but they don't interest me.

"The players aren't overly euphoric because they know how hard it is to win titles.

"If the fans are euphoric then great. We need to be optimistic, but it isn't important how many games we have won. What counts is if they help us to win trophies."

08:58:00

Egypt says it has bombed Islamic State targets in Libya, hours after the militants released video of apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians.

State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. A second wave of strikes was reported hours later.

Libyan officials said Egypt hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna.

The strikes came amid widespread condemnation of the killings. The US and UN described them as "cowardly".

A video emerged on Sunday showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.

The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in separate incidents in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.

The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. It was one of the first such videos to come from an IS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.

The video describes the Copts as "crusaders" and refers among other things to two women, wives of Coptic priests, whose alleged conversion to Islam triggered a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.

IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which in effect has rival governments.

08:32:00