Neymar and Luis Suarez continued their superb scoring run with early goals to shock Real Madrid and send Barcelona on their way to a 4-0 Clasico thrashing at the Bernabeu.
Lionel Messi was only fit enough for a place on the bench after returning from a spell on the sidelines with a knee injury, but Neymar and Suarez carried on their fine form with first-half strikes before Andres Iniesta and Suarez added two more after the break.
Suarez opened the scoring for Luis Enrique's side 11 minutes in, clinically slotting a first-time finish past Keylor Navas with the outside of his right boot following a fine run and pass from Sergi Roberto, who started in Messi's absence.
Madrid could not cope with Barca's movement, and Neymar made it two six minutes from the interval as he latched onto a through-ball from Andres Iniesta before rolling it under Navas via a deflection off the Blancos goalkeeper.
Iniesta blasted in Barca's third after the interval -- his first league goal since March 2014, also against Madrid -- smashing the ball past Navas after a delightful back-heel assist from Neymar.
Suarez completed the rout when he raced through on goal and chipped the ball over Navas. Barca had four goals at the Bernabeu, and they could have had many more.
Life after David Moyes is looking brighter for Real Sociedad after they beat Sevilla 2-0 to pick up their first home win of the season.
New coach Eusebio Sacristan earned three points in his first game in charge thanks to second-half goals from Imanol Agirretxe and Xabi Prieto, although this was far from a top-class performance from the hosts.
They needed a couple of excellent saves from goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli to come through a first half which the visitors bossed, although Unai Emery's side were dealt a setback when defender Marco Andreolli was stretchered off before half-time with a suspected knee injury.
Valencia were held to a 1-1 draw at home to struggling Las Palmas.
The hosts could have climbed into the top four with victory and they led through Paco Alcacer's early goal but Las Palmas, who could have won if they had taken their chances, equalised just before the hour mark through Jonathan Viera.
Espanyol moved into the top half of the table after beating Malaga 2-0 thanks to a first-half double from Hernan Perez.
The Paraguay striker opened the scoring with just six minutes played after fine work from Marco Asensio, who also played a part in creating Perez's second a quarter of an hour later.
The Catalan side went into this fixture looking for a first win in four matches and now move into the top 10, while Malaga are hovering just above the relegation zone.
Lucas Perez's eighth goal of the season helped Deportivo emerge from a five-game winless slump with a 2-0 win over Celta Vigo.
The striker, who has now scored in three consecutive matches, scored a controversial opening goal in the 23rd minute after Jonathan Rodriguez went through on goal -- only to see his shot saved by Sergio Alvarez.
Perez was on hand to score from the rebound, despite claims from the visiting defence that the in-form striker was in an offside position when Rodriguez took the initial shot.
Deportivo held out for the win, and the lead was doubled right at the death when Jonny Castro spectacularly put the ball into his own net with a failed clearance from 40 yards out.