Madrid - Barcelona emulated deadly rivals Real Madrid on Saturday by making it five wins out of five themselves, with a 2-0 win at Malaga. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Gerard Pique came off the bench to score.
Coach Josep Guardiola was planning to give both men a well-earned rest but had to bring them on because of muscle injuries sustained by Thierry Henry and Dmytro Chyrynskiy.
Ibrahimovic came on for Henry and 10 minutes later made it 1-0 on a pass from Lionel Messi, despite a suspicion of offside.
Pique, in sensational form this season, needed only four minutes on the field to make his mark. In the 59th minute he made it 2-0 by poking in one of Xavi's classy free-kicks.
"It's a shame when a team-mate gets injured," Pique said, "but it is a good feeling to have won again."
Veteran Malaga forward Albert Luque was sent off at the end for a horrible foul on Dani Alves.
Earlier Saturday, Real had beaten Tenerife 3-0 at home, with two second-half goals from Karim Benzema and one from supersub Kaka.
This is the first time ever that Real and Barca have both won their first five games. They are both on 15 points, with Real on top, having conceded one goal less.
Real general director Jorge Valdano was full of praise for Benzema after the Tenerife win.
"He has scored three goals in five games. ... We should not forget that he is 20 years old," Valdano said. "We needed to be patient with him."
Valdano called Kaka "an out-of-the-ordinary player. He gives the team a stamp of quality. He has a great change of rhythm, and he gives us more options in front of goal."
Coach Manuel Pellgrini admitted that the team "played very baldy in the first half" but blamed it on overwork. "We are playing too many matches right now," he said.
Real looked slow and sluggish in the first half and were whistled off the Bernabeu field at half-time with the score 0-0.
Pellegrini wisely decided to bring Kaka off the substitutes' bench, and the hosts immediately improved.
Three minutes into the second half, Benzema made it 1-0 with a clever header on a centre from the fit-again Xabi Alonso.
In the 58th minute, Benzema took advantage of a ridiculous error by Tenerife defender Manolo Martinez to make it 2-0.
Even so, the islanders did not give up, and Omar Ramos hit a Real post. But in the 77th minute Kaka made it 3-0 with one of his trademark long-range drives - and the game was effectively over.
The only team that seems capable of preventing la Liga from becoming another two-horse-race is Sevilla, who enjoyed a 4-0 romp at Athletic Bilbao, who were crippled by the sending-off of Spain defender Fernando Amorebieta.
Sevilla's goals were put away by Renato, Alvaro Negredo, Frederic Kanoute and Jesus Navas.
Manolo Jimenez' talented team have won their last four matches and are now third, three points behind Real and Barca.
Valencia will move up to fourth if they manage to beat crisis team Atletico Madrid in Saturday's late game.
