Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said his team were still improving after a superb first-half performance brought a 2-0 La Liga win at Espanyol on Saturday.
Barca were quick out of the blocks and were 2-0 up thanks to goals from Neymar and Lionel Messi inside the opening 25 minutes.
Left-back Jordi Alba picked up two quick yellow cards for dissent early in the second half, but the 10 men still ran out easy winners against a blunt Espanyol .
The three points put Barca five ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who face a tricky trip to in-form Celta Vigo on Sunday.
Luis Enrique told his postgame news conference that he felt his team had played their best first half of the season.
"The team keeps improving," he said. "It is the best first half in terms of dominating all facets of the game, a lot of the ball in the opposition half. Good pressure. Excellent movement of the ball, looking for the goal.
"We are going to have chances to win games if we play well. In the second half we played well, and we did not suffer despite playing with 10 men. We gave them very little chance to get back into the game."
Alba's sending off was part of an uneven performance by referee Antonio Miguel Mateu Lahoz, who reportedly apologised to Espanyol's players after the game for missing an offside in the build-up to Barca's second goal.
Luis Enrique said Alba had told him nothing untoward had been said, and that La Liga's authorities should not impose the usual one-game ban.
"Alba has said that he only said 'always me,'" the coach explained. "Unless that is the title of a horror film, there should be no punishment."
Barca remain top of the Liga table with five fixtures remaining, and with theoretically easier games to come, starting with Getafe at home on Tuesday and a visit to already-doomed Cordoba on Saturday.
"That is on paper," he said. "Then you have to show it in each game. We still have our destiny in our hands, and that is the positive thing. Today was difficult as it was a derbi.
"This will not change in the most important part of the season. What matters are the points and counting up the victories. There are still five to play. They are super important."
The forthcoming Champions League semifinal clashes with former coach Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich would not lead Barca's players to lose concentration, Luis Enrique stressed.
"I was not worried that the players were going to lose concentration," he said. "We know that they are all difficult games. Nobody thought we would get nothing from Malaga at home. It will all be very difficult, from here until the end of the season. There is no other path."
The coach also wished his previous team Celta luck against second-placed Madrid, saying with a smile: "I always hope Celta get good results."