Luis Suarez believes Barcelona showed their full potential as they thrashed Real Madrid 5-1 without Lionel Messi in Sunday's Clasico.

Barca were rampant at Camp Nou and Suarez grabbed a hat-trick between goals from Philippe Coutinho and Arturo Vidal to seemingly leave Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui on the brink of the sack.

The result was particularly impressive given Messi's absence with a broken arm and Suarez is keen to see the Barca captain complement that type of performance.

"[Messi] is the best in the world, always a plus," Suarez said. "But what we've done is shown the level of football this team is capable of. We're behind the manager and we love the club."

Madrid had threatened a fightback when Marcelo scored early in the second half, but Suarez delighted in taking advantage of the space as the visitors flooded forward.

"They came out obviously wanting to turn the game around," he said. "They made it 2-1, they had a couple of chances.

"We thought, in general, the team played very well and were able to respond. Madrid were leaving a lot of spaces and we knew we could take advantage of that."

But Suarez is not writing off ninth-placed Madrid, adding: "Every player and every team can suffer a poor game and a poor performance.

"You just have to keep trying and pulling together as a team. These are situations you can understand. They can happen to everyone."