FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (L) competes during a Spanish League match between FC Barcelona and RC Deportivo in Barcelona, Spain, Dec. 17, 2017.(Xinhua/Joan Gosa)
MADRID, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona enjoyed an easy 4-0 win at home to Deportivo la Coruna on Sunday night to stretch their lead at the top of the Liga Santander to six points over second place Atletico Madrid, eight over Valencia and 11 over Real Madrid, who didn't play this weekend as they were in the World Club Championship in Abu Dhabi.
Barca led 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Paullinho, before Suarez made it 3-0 soon after the break, Messi had a penalty saved and Paulinho netted his second after a Suarez shot hit the post and the final score would have been bigger if Messi hadn't hit the woodwork on three separate occasions.
The only setback for Barca was a muscle injury to Paco Alcacer means he will miss next weekend's Clasico against Real Madrid.
Fernando Torres scored the only goal of the game as Atletico Madrid moved to second place in the Liga Santander on Saturday night following a 1-0 win at home to Deportivo Alaves.
Torres' goal came 15 minutes from the end as Atletico struggled to break down a rival who remain in the relegation zone, but who have improved drastically in 3 matches under new coach Abelardo Fernandez.
Atletico's win took them above Valencia who fell to their second consecutive away defeat as they were beaten 2-1 away to Eibar in a rainy Ipurua Stadium.
Eibar worked tremendously hard and looked to pressure Valencia who had three key players out injured, high up the pitch. That pressure set up Takshi Inui for the opening goal four minutes after halftime.
Santi Mina's sixth goal of the season nine minutes later leveled the scores, but although Goncalo Guedes returned from injury as a substitute for Valencia, Eibar had the best chances in the closing minutes and Joan Jordan scored the winning goal three minutes from the end with a powerful header following Ivi Alejo's fine cross.
Girona's incredible season continued as they defeated Getafe 1-0 to move into contention for a place in Europe thanks to Cristian Stuani's fifth minute goal.
The Catalans' win momentarily lifted them into sixth place in the table, but that only lasted for four hours before Villarreal reclaimed the final European place with a 1-0 win away to Celta Vigo.
Both sides were missing key players, but Celta suffered without Spain international Iago Aspas and Pablo Fornals' first ever goal for Villarreal was enough to give them all three points.
Espanyol looked to be cruising to an away victory as they led 2-0 away to struggling Las Palmas with just 13 minutes remaining only to allow the home side to draw level through Loric Remi and Calleri and Las Palmas would have won had it not been for Pau Lopez's stunning 96th minute save to deny a Jonathan Viera penalty.
The Basque derby in San Mames between Athletic Club Bilbao and Real Sociedad was less thrilling and ended 0-0 in a match where tension and tackles held the edge over football and the best news from the 0-0 draw between Sevilla and Levante was Eduardo Berizzo's return to the Sevilla dugout just 17 days after a cancer operation.
