Barcelona capitalised on Real Madrid's latest slip-up by beating Sevilla 3-0 at Camp Nou to move eight points clear at the top of LaLiga.
Madrid's surprise 1-0 loss at Real Mallorca earlier in the day opened the door for Barca, which took full advantage with a 10th win in a row this calendar year.
After toiling for the best part of an hour, Jordi Alba opened the scoring for Xavi's side and it did not look back.
Gavi doubled the host's lead 12 minutes later after being assisted by Raphinha, who added the third himself to edge Barca closer to a first league title in four seasons.
Barca was forced to make a change inside the opening eight minutes after Sergio Busquets injured his ankle and it struggled to find its full flow in the first half.
Yassine Bounou produced a fine stop with his leg to deny Robert Lewandowski and pulled off an even better save soon after to tip the striker's long-range drive around the post.
Sevilla brought on Bryan Gil and Erik Lamela at half-time but Barca continued to dominate the contest as Raphinha became the latest to test Bounou, this time with a header.
The breakthrough finally arrived just short of the hour mark as Franck Kessie, brought on for Busquets, brilliantly flicked the ball into the path of Alba to fire home across Bounou.
A simple finish for Gavi in the 70th minute after being picked out by Raphinha gave Barca breathing space and the Brazil winger contributed to the scoring before full-time.
Alba played the ball into the middle and Raphinha was there to poke it past Bounou and cap a fine individual and team display.
