Lionel Messi marked his 400th La Liga appearance with an early goal as leaders Barcelona beat Levante 3-0 at the Nou Camp to restore their nine-point advantage.
Philippe Coutinho has headed to Catalonia to complete the formalities of his £142m transfer from Liverpool, but it remained business as usual for Ernesto Valverde's men on Sunday afternoon as Messi opened the scoring after 12 minutes.
In-form Luis Suarez, who himself left Anfield for the Nou Camp during the summer of 2014, added a second before the break and Paulinho tapped in a late third as the Blaugrana consolidated first place ahead of Atletico Madrid, who had beaten Getafe on Saturday.
Midfielder Ousmane Dembele, fit again after suffering a hamstring injury on his LaLiga debut following a £93m move, came back into the starting XI, while Barcelona captain Andres Iniesta made his 650th appearance.
🔥 Leo #Messi in @LaLiga 🔥
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 7, 2018
👕 400 games
⚽ 365 goals
👟 144 assists
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/WoPV51UsxQ
Gabriel Pires scored a second-half winner as Leganes secured a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad.
Pires struck from a Javier Eraso free-kick with 15 minutes remaining to secure all three points for the hosts at the Municipal de Butarque Stadium.
The victory moves Leganes ahead of Sociedad and up to eighth in the table.
Athletic Bilbao climbed to eighth with a 2-0 win over struggling Alaves at San Mames.
Xabier Etxeita put the home side ahead on eight minutes when he scored following a corner.
Raul Garcia saw a header saved by Fernando Pacheco, who also denied Aritz Aduriz at point-blank range.
Bilbao, though, did finally double their lead on 64 minutes when Aduriz converted from the penalty spot.
A late goal from Florin Andone saw Deportivo La Coruna secure a 1-1 draw at Villarreal to move out of the bottom three.
The Yellow Submarine took the lead on the half hour through Enes Unal.
However, just when time looked to be running out, the visitors snatched a share of the points when Andone nodded in off the post from close range after 86 minutes.
Villarreal are sixth, a point ahead of Eibar, while Deportivo sit 17th, now one point clear of Alaves.
