Barcelona forward Luis Suarez has said that it is unfair to blame Neymar alone for the recent struggles of the Catalan club and stressed that the front line, along with Lionel Messi and the rest of the club, play as a team.
Suarez scored four times and contributed three assists, saying his team were "more united than ever" as they bounced back from a bad run with Wednesday's 8-0 La Liga win at Deportivo La Coruna.
"It hurts to see [Neymar] being made solely responsible for our losses," Suarez said during a charity event on Thursday in Barcelona. "He has feelings and he is my friend. We all try to support each other. And there it is, we are showing with attitude that we are not giving up."
Barca desperately needed a response in Galicia after losing three games in a row and letting Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid back into the title race.
"We needed this victory," Suarez said. "We were coming from suffering for several matches and, like the human beings that we are, the losses hurt. But we are pleased by the way we played, although we also were pleased after losing to Valencia, because we played a good match."
The Uruguayan scored twice in the first half and Ivan Rakitic grabbed the third early in the second half, before Suarez quickly doubled his tally. Messi had provided two assists for Suarez and finally got on the scoresheet by tapping home after a brilliant move by the Uruguayan, while defender Marc Bartra scored a brilliant individual goal before Neymar rounded off the scoring to end his goal drought.
The club returned to training in the rain on Thursday in preparation for Saturday's match against Sporting Gijon at Camp Nou.
��+�� El Barça ha empezado a preparar la visita del Sporting con una sesión bajo la lluvia https://t.co/t4uwRYxg02 pic.twitter.com/jhi8nzg49J
- FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) April 21, 2016
Despite the strong display by the front line, Suarez encouraged supporters to consider the club as a team and not just three players.
"We are aware that we help the team a lot because the three of us play regularly, but no one is untouchable," Suarez said. "No one player should be held responsible when things go bad. When we win, we win as a team and when we lose, we lose together."
Recent days had also brought speculation of discord among the Blaugrana camp, with some reports saying the squad were unhappy with coach Luis Enrique. Others said that Neymar's off-pitch distractions were an issue after TV cameras in Spain reportedly caught him having words with teammate Jordi Alba during the match against Valencia.
Suarez himself had gone three league games without scoring, his longest such run at Barcelona since September 2015. But he now has 49 goals in 48 games this season -- matching his best-ever season total from his days with Ajax.
The former Liverpool man said he thinks the Spanish Primera Division title is Barcelona's to lose after Wednesday's display of eight goals.
"It is completely up to us whether we win," Suarez said. "What the other clubs do is not of interest to us. What will likely happen is that none [Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona] will make any mistakes. But we are the leaders. We are convinced hat we can win and we want to win. There is no other option but to win the league. Then, when we win the Copa del Rey we will have a beautiful double to celebrate."
Suarez said he doubted that either Atletico or Real Madrid's La Liga play would be affected by the strain of playing in the Champions League semifinals.
"We don't have to think along those lines," he said. "Last year we were in the same situation and we won everything. Tiredness does not exist at this level."
ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan contributed to this report.