Real Madrid stretched their winning run to 14 games in all competitions with a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sporting Gijon on Saturday to open a six-point lead over Barcelona.
Angel Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo were on target as Real piled the pressure on Barcelona, who have also played 14 games, ahead of the champions' clash with Levante later Saturday.
The win means Jose Mourinho's Madrid will certainly be top when the two rivals meet next Saturday in the Santiago Bernabeu in the first Clasico of the La Liga season.
Sporting, who were bottom of the table early in the campaign, and took eight games to find their first win, tested Madrid throughout before finishing the game with 10 men when Sebastian Eguren was sent off late on.
Di Maria struck in the 35th minute.
Ronaldo found the Argentine with a long raking pass which Di Maria controlled well before exploiting a mistake by Sporting full-back Damian Suarez to advance into the penalty area.
He then surprised goalkeeper Juan Pablo Colinas with a shot that squeezed inside the near post from a tight angle to conjure an important lead for his side out of nothing.
It was a full 30 minutes later before Madrid could relax and Di Maria was again prominent when his defence-splitting pass found Ronaldo who rounded Colinas before slotting home for his 16th league goal of the season.
Sporting then had claims for a penalty turned down after substitute Gaston Sangoy was felled in the penalty area.
With the two-goal cushion, Madrid were content to keep the ball, perhaps with one eye on next Saturday's crucial battle.
And when Sporting's Uruguayan midfielder Eguren received his marching orders on 79 minutes for a second yellow card, his side's chances of getting anything from the game ended.
There was still time for Brazilian full-back Marcelo to increase Madrid's lead in the last minute.
Also on Saturday, crisis club Racing Santander beat Villarreal 1-0 with a crucial goal from Christian Stuani that lifted his side from the bottom of the league into third last.
Source: AFP
