Another milestone for Messi, Real beat Malaga
Lionel Messi scored his 400th career goal for Barcelona to round off a nervy but vital 2-0 win over fourth-placed Valencia to keep the Catalans top of the Primera Division.
The Argentina superstar scored with the last kick of the game after Luis Suarez had opened the scoring inside the first minute, but impressive Valencia were unlucky not to take more from the game, with Dani Parejo passing up an opportunity to equalise in the first half from the penalty spot.
Barcelona made it to half-time unscathed, though, and then produced a solid second-half performance to take the three points and inflict only a second league defeat of 2015 on their opponents.
The win keeps Barça two points clear at the summit ahead of Real Madrid, who responded with a victory of their own over Malaga later on Saturday, although not without a cost as both Gareth Bale and Luka Modric went off injured.
Bale limped off after just four minutes with a calf problem while his former Tottenham colleague Modric had to be replaced in the second half after suffering a knee injury, giving coach Carlo Ancelotti serious cause for concern ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League return clash with Atletico Madrid.
Real will at least go into that game on the back of a 3-1 victory as goals from Sergio Ramos (24), James Rodriguez (69) and Cristiano Ronaldo (90) cancelled out a reply from Juanmi (71).
Ronaldo's strike saw him bring up 50 goals in all competitions for the fifth successive year, although he should have reached the milestone earlier than stoppage time having seen his 67th-minute penalty come back off the post when the score was still 1-0.
Atleti, who drew 0-0 with Real in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie, will also go into the return meeting with their arch-rivals on a high after beating Deportivo La Coruna 2-1.
Antoine Griezmann struck both goals for the reigning champions, opening the scoring after just five minutes with a stunning bicycle kick before extending the visitors' lead midway through the first half with another impressive finish to move on to 20 league goals in his first season for the Rojiblancos.
Deportivo struggled in the first half but Oriel Riera made for a tense finish by pulling a goal back in the 77th minute. But Atletico held on for the win to increase their stranglehold on third place to four points over Valencia. Deportivo, meanwhile, remain in the relegation zone on 28 points.
In the late game, Athletic Bilbao won for the first time in four matches with a 4-0 home win over ten-man Getafe. Aritz Aduriz scored from the penalty spot right at the end of the first half to put Athletic ahead in an incident that saw Emiliano Velazquez sent off, and the striker doubled his side's lead moments after the restart.
Ibai Gomez and Markel Susaeta then added late goals to complete a convincing triumph for the Basque giants, who move up to eighth.