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| Neymar scored twice to take his total in La Liga for the season to three - having scored at Leganes last weekend |
Barcelona overcame the absence of Lionel Messi to secure an emphatic La Liga win at 10-man Sporting Gijon with three goals in the final nine minutes.
Messi is out for three weeks but was barely missed as Barca scored five away from home for the second week in a row.
Luis Suarez rounded the keeper for the first before Rafinha's diving header put Barca 2-0 up at half-time.
Sporting captain Alberto Lora was sent off on 74 minutes, before Neymar scored either side of an Arda Turan goal.
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Match Highlights
Lora was already on a booking when he was shown a second yellow card for a lunging challenge on Sergi Roberto, who responded by creating the champions' third and fourth goals - having already claiming a first-half assist for Rafinha's effort.
Paco Alcacer, still chasing his first Barca goal following his move from Valencia, had his first-time shot from a Sergi cross touched against the bar by goalkeeper Ivan Cuellar, with Neymar keeping his feet to control the loose ball and steer it in.
Turan then headed in a terrific cross from his right-back, before Neymar converted a pass from substitute Denis Suarez for Barca, who won 5-1 at Leganes last Saturday.
No Messi, no messing
A much-changed Barcelona side got the job done as they went top of La Liga - at least for a few hours, before Sevilla and Real Madrid both played later on Saturday.
For long spells, this was far from a vintage performance from Luis Enrique's side, yet they were utterly ruthless once the home side were reduced to 10 men.
The result justified the manager's decision to mix and match his team in advance of a midweek Champions League trip to Borussia Monchengladbach.
Enrique has made squad rotation a key plank of his strategy this season - with mixed results.
It was an approach that failed miserably against promoted Alaves two weeks ago, when a team showing seven changes - and without Messi or Suarez in the starting line-up - lost 2-1 at home.
Enrique has been noticeably more careful with his rotation since then, although he did make five alterations for the trip to his home city of Gijon, with Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic among those dropping out.
Tellingly, the manager - without the injured Messi to call on - fielded his strongest possible forward line, with Suarez and Neymar lining up in attack, joined by Rafinha.
The champions had to withstand a nervy opening 20 minutes, during which goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen handled outside his penalty area as he tried to deal with a dangerous long ball.
Two quick first-half goals deflated Sporting, and it looked as if that would be that, until a late flurry heaped punishment on the home side.
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