Barcelona will Spain’s Christmas No. 1 after thrashing Alaves in the last game of the year.
Even if Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Sunday they will need to do so by five goals to level the Catalans on goal difference.
Ernesto Valverde shuffled his pack, resting Frenkie De Jong and Ivan Rakitic, while finally starting Carles Alena and Arturo Vidal - a Christmas gift.
Despite the changes it never seemed hard for the Catalans.
Lionel Messi struck but the goal was disallowed for offside before Antoine Griezmann sent them ahead with a well-taken effort from the edge of the box.
Luis Suarez cut the ball back and the Frenchman curled home with his right foot.
The Uruguayan played a part in the second goal too, nudging the ball to Arturo Vidal, who rifled home from inside the box - potentially his last goal for the club.
Messi came close after some great link up play with Griezmann and the duo were involved in another disallowed goal after the break too.
However with the defence snoozing Pere Pons snuck into the area and bulleted home a header to pull Alaves back into the game.
The visitors threatened to equals but the match was eventually resolved when Messi took it by the scruff of the neck and smashed home from 20 yards out.
Then Suarez’s header was handled by Martin and after running over to check the VAR monitor, referee Melero Lopez pointed to the spot. The Uruguayan smashed it home to put the cherry on the cake of a comfortable win.
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Barcelona have 39 points from 18 games, while Madrid have 36 from 17.