LATE goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bojan Krkic made it advantage Barcelona in the race for the Primera Division title as the Catalans won 2-0 at home to Osasuna.
Off-colour Barca took a long time to get going and the scores remained level with 20 minutes remaining.
But even with Lionel Messi not quite matching his brilliant recent form, Pep Guardiola's men ground out victory to move three points clear of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand.
Valencia moved six points clear of Real Mallorca in third after Los Che beat Malaga 1-0 and Mallorca could only manage a goalless draw at Racing Santander.
David Villa scored in the 13th minute to leave Malaga with work still to do to avoid relegation.
Tenerife and Real Valladolid closed the gap on Real Zaragoza and safety to two points with draws.
Giuseppe Rossi struck an 88th-minute equaliser to earn Villarreal a 2-2 draw at second-bottom Tenerife.
Tenerife hit back from a half-time deficit to take a 2-1 lead through goals from top scorer Nino and Jose Antonio Culebras.
However, Rossi popped up in the last few minutes to salvage a draw for the Yellow Submarine, who had gone ahead through Nilmar's header in first-half injury time.
Valladolid held out for almost an hour with 10 men to earn a 0-0 draw with Espanyol.
Both sides finished the match a man light, but Espanyol's Victor Ruiz was dismissed deep into added time by which point Valladolid had played for the whole of the second half with 10 men following the sending-off of Diego Costa.
Zaragoza contrived to lose 1-0 at Almeria despite dominating for an hour.
Kalu Uche's goal just after the hour mark earned Almeria a victory which all but ended their own lingering relegation fears.
That goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Zaragoza, who had keeper Roberto Jimenez to thank for keeping the deficit to one by saving Corona's penalty six minutes from time.
But even with Lionel Messi not quite matching his brilliant recent form, Pep Guardiola's men ground out victory to move three points clear of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand.
Valencia moved six points clear of Real Mallorca in third after Los Che beat Malaga 1-0 and Mallorca could only manage a goalless draw at Racing Santander.
David Villa scored in the 13th minute to leave Malaga with work still to do to avoid relegation.
Tenerife and Real Valladolid closed the gap on Real Zaragoza and safety to two points with draws.
Giuseppe Rossi struck an 88th-minute equaliser to earn Villarreal a 2-2 draw at second-bottom Tenerife.
Tenerife hit back from a half-time deficit to take a 2-1 lead through goals from top scorer Nino and Jose Antonio Culebras.
However, Rossi popped up in the last few minutes to salvage a draw for the Yellow Submarine, who had gone ahead through Nilmar's header in first-half injury time.
Valladolid held out for almost an hour with 10 men to earn a 0-0 draw with Espanyol.
Both sides finished the match a man light, but Espanyol's Victor Ruiz was dismissed deep into added time by which point Valladolid had played for the whole of the second half with 10 men following the sending-off of Diego Costa.
Zaragoza contrived to lose 1-0 at Almeria despite dominating for an hour.
Kalu Uche's goal just after the hour mark earned Almeria a victory which all but ended their own lingering relegation fears.
That goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Zaragoza, who had keeper Roberto Jimenez to thank for keeping the deficit to one by saving Corona's penalty six minutes from time.
Copyright (c) Press Association
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