Barcelona turned on the style again at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night, crushing Sevilla 4-0 to restore their six-point lead at the La Liga summit.
Real Madrid had closed to within three points with a morale-boosting, late 3-2 win over Getafe on Tuesday but Barcelona show no signs of cracking under the pressure and destroyed third-placed Sevilla even without talisman Lionel Messi.
Real have been the experts of late goals this season, but Barcelona prefer seeing off teams with early goals and scored twice in the first 16 minutes to seize control.
Andres Iniesta scored a sensational opener after just two minutes before Samuel Eto'o struck his 27th goal of the campaign.
Xavi and Thierry Henry added second-half goals and Barcelona now have 92 goals for the season as they target Real's all-time record of 107 set when they won the league title in 1990.
"We are going for everything this season," said Iniesta. "We played well tonight, scored good goals and got the points.
"We have difficult games against Valencia and Chelsea coming up so we can't relax and have to keep on going."
The win was all the more impressive as it was achieved without the magical Messi who was left out after being unable to train due to stomach pains. Coach Pep Guardiola decided not to take any risks with a trip to Valencia tomorrow and then the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea three days later.
"The way Barca are playing you have to be almost perfect to beat them," said Sevilla coach Manolo Jimenez. "They are beating top teams by three or four goals and were far superior to us tonight."
In the goalscoring charts Eto'o is two goals ahead of Valencia's David Villa who scored twice in his team's 2-1 win over Real Betis.
Sevilla, who face Real at home on Sunday, have now lost their last three matches and Valencia are now just two points behind after beating Betis 2-1.
Villa may be heading for a big summer move but his loyalty to Valencia remains unquestioned and he has scored 25 out of their 60 league goals this season.
"Villa is a great footballer and he is committed to the Valencia cause," emphasised coach Unai Emery.
"It is great for us to close in on Sevilla and now we are focused on the Barcelona game on Saturday when I expect a carnival atmosphere at the Mestalla."
Yesterday's results: Sporting Gijon vs Espanyol 0-3; Villarreal vs Rec. Huelva 2-1; R. Mallorca vs Valladolid 2-0; Rac. Santander vs Atletico Madrid 5-1.