The status quo in La Liga was maintained as Barcelona remained three points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid, while Real Madrid ensured the gap between their bitter rivals stayed at eight points after all three teams won on the weekend.
Lionel Messi continued his march towards Gerd Muller's record of most goals scored in a calendar year by adding two wonderfully taken goals, with the Argentine also setting up Barca's third as Alex Song scored his first goal for his new club in a 3-1 win over Real Zaragoza.
Messi has now scored 78 goals this year for club and country.
"The players made a big effort and you noticed they were tired after long trips to play with their national teams," Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova told reporters.
"Leo is decisive and the great teams have great players, but he doesn't win games on his own."
However, Messi's goals - 17 of them in the league - have certainly helped Barca maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Real remained eight points behind with a comfortable 5-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. In a game where surprisingly Cristiano Ronaldo did not score, Jon Aurtenetxe's own goal was followed by strikes from Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos, Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira.
"The team maintained their intensity until the end," Real assistant manager Aitor Karanka told reporters. "We could have let Athletic make it 3-2 after they pulled one back, but we talked about it (at halftime).
"In the second half, we were better defensively and then more goals came. This league does not allow setbacks so we must continue on this path."
"(Benzema) gives us vision, support and movement, and his goal made (his performance) perfect. Today he was focused and clinical," Karanka added on the French international striker.
Meanwhile, Atletico showed their fighting spirit, holding on for 1-0 win over Granada despite going down to 10 men. Mario Suarez was sent off for a second yellow card midway through the second half, but a goal from Arda Turan was enough to seal all three points against Granada and ensure the Madrid team remains only three points behind Barcelona.
"The reaction of the team in the second half is the most important thing about today," Atletico manager Diego Simeone said. "When a team understands it's not performing well, that it has to do something, and it reacts like we did today it's an important step forward."
