Barcelona maintained their current winning streak as they won in La Liga with a sixth straight win as Luis Suarez and two own goals secured a 3-0 win at Girona in a match laced with political tension on Saturday.
Real Madrid remain seven points behind Barca as new signing Dani Ceballos’s brace on his full debut helped bounce back from a shock midweek defeat by Real Betis with a 2-1 win at Alaves on Saturday to move up to fourth.
Barcelona remains on the top of the league table. They increased thier lead of the league to four points after Atletico Madrid beat Sevilla 2-0 to leapfrog the Andalucian club into second place.
Girona were hosting Barca in a Catalan derby for the first time in the top flight, but a one-sided game on the field was marked by persistent chants in favour of independence for Catalonia.
An own goal either side of the break and a Luis Suarez strike in his 100th league appearance for the club 21 minutes from the end were enough for Ernesto Valverde’s team to secure the points in the first-ever league meeting between the sides.
Real however bounced back to winning ways following their shock 1-0 defeat to Betis in midweek as two first-half goals from Ceballos in his maiden league start for the club.
Alaves, who came into the goal without a point or a goal this season, equalised through Manu Garcia’s header.
There were missed chances at both ends in the second half. Cristiano Ronaldo, who is yet to score in La Liga this season, and Alaves substitute Alfonso Pedraza both struck the woodwork twice, while Sergio Ramos fired over an open goal late on.