Madrid:
Lionel Messi scored, provided three assists and missed a penalty as Barcelona pressed home their advantage at the top of La Liga with a 6-0 thrashing of Getafe here.
Atletico Madrid stayed eight points adrift of Barca at the top with 3-0 win over Deportivo la Coruna thanks to goals from Saul Niguez, Antoine Griezmann and Angel Correa.
Juan Rodriguez’s own goal opened the scoring at the Camp Nou yesterday, before Messi saw his penalty saved by Vicente Guaita, teed up Munir El Haddadi and Neymar and smashed home his 36th goal of the season all before half-time.
Neymar and Arda Turan rounded off the scoring to seal Barca’s 12th straight La Liga win after the break.
Real Madrid are now 15 points adrift of Barca in third ahead of their trip to Las Palmas on Sunday.
An eighth defeat in nine games leaves Getafe just a point above the relegation zone.
“This is a unique team, different to the rest and which does things that make it seem like there is nothing the opponent can do,” said Barca boss Luis Enrique.
“It is a great pleasure to be in this position.”
The European champions weren’t even at full strength as Enrique left Luis Suarez on the bench ahead of Barca’s return to Champions League action against Arsenal on Wednesday.
Yet, the hosts still only took seven minutes to break the deadlock as Jordi Alba’s driven cross towards Messi was scooped into the far corner of his own net by Rodriguez.
Barca’s one fallibility this season was exposed moments later when Neymar was chopped down by Emiliano Velazquez inside the area.
Messi took responsiblity, but for the ninth time in 20 spot-kicks Barca failed to convert, as Guaita dived to his left to turn the five-time World Player of the Year’s effort to safety.
Guaita’s intervention kept Getafe in the game for just a further nine minutes as Messi directed Andres Iniesta’s through ball onto El Haddadi’s head for the second.
