Trailing Barca by three points at the start of the play on Saturday, Real Madrid found themselves further left behind following a 3-1 loss to city rivals Getafe.

An on-form Samuel Eto'o opening scoring for the visiting Barca in the 20th minute.

Lionel Messi added a second 12 minutes from time when he latched on to a defensive header forward.

Sevilla's misery was doubled when Luis Fabiano received marching order on 86 minutes for tangling with Sergio Busquets before Messi sealed the victory in stoppage time.

Real Madrid went off to a bad start when only three minutes in Jaime Gavilan crossed for Juan Albin to head past Iker Casillas. The visitors saw their evening worsened two minutes after the break as Albin scored his second.

Javier Saviola halved the deficit for Real but the hosts struck again through Ikechukwu Uche.