Luis Enrique hailed Luis Suarez's "priceless" performance after the Barcelona striker netted a hat trick in Sunday's 3-1 comeback victory against Eibar.

The Basque minnows took a shock lead after just eight minutes through in-form Atletico Madrid loanee Borja Baston, but Suarez levelled midway through the first half exactly one year after his debut for the club.

The Uruguay international struck at the beginning and end of the second period to complete his treble and seal the three points for Barca, who had Javier Mascherano sent off as Eibar suffered their first away defeat of the season.

With talisman Lionel Messi ruled out until mid-late November with a knee injury, Barca boss Luis Enrique took time to praise Suarez as the Blaugrana went level on points with La Liga leaders Real Madrid.

"Luis Suarez brings us a lot,"he told reporters. "What he gives you is priceless and unquestionable. He has that power in the area and is irreplaceable.

"What I like about my team is that we can overcome any situation."

Luis Suarez, right, and Neymar have either scored or assisted on 14 of the 15 goals Barcelona have scored in Lionel Messi's absence. David Ramos/Getty Images

Suarez said of the treble on his anniversary at Barca: "It's a special hat trick, coming one year after my debut. The end result is that we won a game we were losing. We're already thinking about the next [game]."

In Messi's absence, Suarez and Neymar have had a hand in 14 of the 15 goals Barcelona have scored in Champions League and La Liga action. Neymar assisted twice for Suarez in the win against Eibar.

Luis Enrique told his news conference after the match that the words Mascherano used when he was sent off are more common in his native Argentina than Spain and didn't warrant a red card.

"It is a typical Argentine expression like we say here 'los cojones' or something like that," Luis Enrique said. "You have to see if he said that to the referee or just to the air.

"Today is the best example, referees sanction more the protests than hard tackles." Luis Enrique said. "A hard [playing] team like Eibar could have seen more cards. This is something usual and we have to improve this. Mascherano didn't talk to the referee, he said something normal in a football match.

"We have to try not to fall into this but it is complicated during a football match."