Madrid - Barcelona romped to the top of the Spanish Liga on Saturday with a 4-1 rout down in rainy Malaga. Euro 2008 star Xavi Hernandez led the way with two goals.
Barca are the form team of Planet Football at the moment, and have won their last 11 games in all competitions.
Their seventh successive Liga win leaves Barca with 22 points from nine games, one point ahead of Villarreal - who romped to a 4-1 win in Bilbao - and two points ahead of Valencia.
Valencia will regain top spot if, as expected, they beat Racing Santander at home later on Saturday.
The Malaga match was almost postponed due to heavy rain. The pitch started out fast and wet, but was soon muddy and heavy.
Barca coach Josep Guardiola started out with no less than seven players from the club's youth sections, and was rewarded after just five minutes, when Xavi broke the deadlock with one of his trademark free kicks.
Seven minutes later, Duda levelled for Malaga by turning in the rebound, after Barca keeper Victor Valdes had foiled Adrian Lopez.
Lionel Messi restored Barca's lead in the 19th minute with a fierce left-foot drive past sluggish local keeper Francesc Arnau.
The goal of the night came in the 53rd minute, when Xavi made it 3-1 with a handsome volley, after Thierry Henry had headed across goal.
10 minutes from time Malaga's Brazilian defender Weligton turned a long shot from compatriot Dani Alves into his own goal.
"It was a difficult game tonight because of the wet pitch," said Alves. "But we coped well with it, and got a good result."
Villarreal, meanwhile, were cruising to a 4-1 win of their own, against lowly Bilbao, with goals from Guiseppe Rossi, Robert Pires, Santi Cazorla and supersub Joey Altidore - his first goal in Spain.
The latest defeat leaves Bilbao second from bottom with just five points - and coach Joaquin Caparros in big trouble.
Villarreal are now one point above Valencia and two ahead of fourth-placed Real Madrid, who are away to Almeria on Sunday.
Sevilla are fifth on 17 points. Then come Atletico Madrid, now on 13, after beating Mallorca 2-0 on Saturday with two early goals from Sergio Aguero.
Aguero, 20, has sat out Atletico's last three games with muscle problems - and Javier Aguirre's team failed to win any of them.
With Aguero - about to become son-in-law to new Argentina manager Diego Maradona - fit and keen, Atletico are a completely different side, as Mallorca found out to their coast.
