Barcelona set a Spanish record of 35 matches unbeaten in all competitions with a 5-1 win at nine-man Rayo Vallecano in La Liga helped by a Lionel Messi hat-trick.
The league leaders broke Real Madrid's 1988/89 undefeated run of 34 games.
Ivan Rakitic opened the scoring, Messi caught up with Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo on 35 hat-tricks in all competitions and Arda Turan completed the rout with Turkey's captain scoring his first goal for the club since joining from Atletico Madrid.
Rayo defender Diego Llorente was sent off three minutes before halftime for a foul on Rakitic and Manuel Iturra followed in the 67th for bringing down Sergio Busquets in the poenalty area, although Luis Suarez's penalty was saved by Juan Carlos.
Barca's victory, which saw them beat the undefeated record Real Madrid had held since the 1988/89 season, restored an eight-point lead at the top over Atletico with 11 matches to go.
Atletico beat visiting Real Sociedad 3-0 on Tuesday, while third-placed Real Madrid are again 12 points off the pace after a 3-1 win at Levante on Wednesday.
Elsewhere Granada took a step towards survival by overcoming Sporting Gijon 2-0 at the Estadio Los Carmenes.
A second-half penalty by Youssef El-Arabi and injury-time strike from Isaac Success separated the rivals in a relegation tussle that was controlled throughout by the home team.
Real Betis eased their own relegation fears with a 3-0 victory at fellow mid-table team Espanyol.
Ruben Castro fired the visitors ahead after only 10 minutes and the lead was doubled from another set-piece with German Pezzella on target, before Juan Vargas completed the rout in the second half by firing a free kick into the top corner.
