Barcelona rode further away from its crumbling title rival on Sunday as Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each in a 5-0 thrashing of Real Betis which opened up an 11-point gap at the top of the La Liga standings.
A strike from Ivan Rakitic broke the home side’s resistance in the 58th minute and top-scorer Messi and the in-form Suarez took turns in adding to the scoring to cap a sixth successive league win for Ernesto Valverde’s imperious team.
Barca, the only unbeaten side in Europe’s top five leagues, leads the way with 54 points after capitalising on second-placed Atletico Madrid’s 1-1 draw with Girona on Saturday and third-placed Valencia’s 2-1 defeat at Las Palmas.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice before leaving the pitch with his face covered in blood as Real Madrid eased its domestic crisis by hammering struggling Deportivo La Coruna 7-1 on Sunday to reclaim fourth spot.
The results :
La Liga : Real Betis 0 lost to Barcelona 5 (Rakitic 59, Messi 64, 80, Suarez 69, 90); Real Sociedad 1 (Jose 10) lost to Celta 2 (Aspas 20-pen, Gomez 75); Real Madrid 7 (Nacho 32, 88, Bale 42, 58, Modric 68, Ronaldo 78, 84) bt Deportivo 1 (Adrian 23).
Serie A : Inter Milan 1 (Vecino 86) drew with Roma 1 (El Shaarawy 31); Cagliari 1 (Barella 8) lost to AC Milan 2 (Kessie 36-pen, 42).
Bundesliga : Schalke 1 (Pjaca 16) drew with Hanover 96 1 (Fuellkrug 86).
