The Catalan giants ran out routine winners on Saturday evening to return to the top of the division, overtaking Atletico Madrid, who defeated Rayo Vallecano, in the process Ivan Rakitic and the in-form Luis Suarez were on target as Barcelona moved to within two wins of retaining the Liga title with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over 10-man Real Betis.

For the second weekend running, Real and Atletico Madrid played before Barca and respective wins over Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano turned up the heat on the champions.