Cristiano Ronaldo rounded off a week where he was named world player of the year for the third time scoring a double as Real Madrid opened up a four-point lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-0 win away to Getafe on Sunday.
Atletico Madrid, who dumped city rivals Real out the Copa del Rey in midweek, moved back up to third as goals from Mario Mandzukic and Raul Garcia handed them a 2-0 win over managerless Granada.
Real had to wait over an hour to make the breakthrough at the Alfonso Perez Coliseum before Ronaldo fired home from Karim Benzema's wonderful assist to set them on the road to victory.
Gareth Bale then doubled the visitors' lead before Ronaldo rounded off the scoring with a trademark header from James Rodriguez's cross.
Barcelona can cut Madrid's lead back to a solitary point when they travel to Deportivo la Coruna later on Sunday.
"It is true at the start we didn't play with a lot of intensity," said Real boss Carlo Ancelotti.
"At the start we played a bit slow, but I liked the performance because the team played with intelligence and much better in the second-half than the first.
"I think the whole team played well, but the assist by Karim (Benzema) opened the game up for us. It was extraordinary."
After a sluggish start the European champions finally started to get going after 20 minutes as Marcelo drove a fierce effort just over on his weaker right foot before Benzema was denied by Jordi Codina.
Isco then tested the Getafe 'keeper with a piledriver from the edge of the box which Codina did well to turn over and Toni Kroos came even closer a minute before the break when he rattled the crossbar from long range.
Codina continued to frustrate Madrid at the start of the second period with good saves from Benzema and James Rodriguez.
However, his resistence was finally broken just before the hour mark with a brilliant team goal as Isco and Rodriguez combined to free Benzema and the Frenchman produced an exquisite piece of skill on the byline to cut the ball back for Ronaldo to slam home.
Just four minutes later it was 2-0 as this time Rodriguez was the provider with a fine low cross that Bale prodded past Codina with the outside of his left foot.
And another sumptuous cross from Rodriguez 11 minutes from time allowed Ronaldo to plant a firm header past the helpless Codina to register his 36th goal of the season.
Atletico also seemed to suffer a physical hangover from Thursday's thrilling 2-2 draw between last season's Champions League finalists which saw Los Rojiblancos progress to the quarter-finals of the Cup 4-2 on aggregate, as they laboured to victory against a Granada side that hasn't won in La Liga since September.
That run combined with a 6-1 aggregate thrashing by Sevilla had led the club to sack coach Joaquin Caparros on Friday and despite a spirited display they remain firmly rooted in the relegation zone.
The opening goal arrived 11 minutes before half-time when Diego Godin was hauled down by Abdoul Sissoko as he tried to reach Fernando Torres's cross and Mandzukic smashed home the resultant penalty for his 16th goal of the season.
Atletico enjoyed more control of the game after the break and finally sealed the points three minutes from time when substitute Garcia bundled home Arda Turan's cross at the back post.
Source: AFP