Alexis Sanchez scored twice as Barcelona bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 4-0 victory over Rayo Vallecano in the Spanish league on Tuesday.
A stubborn Rayo held Barcelona at the Camp Nou until the 29th minute, when the Chile forward struck for his first goal since the season opener in August. Sanchez added a second in the 41st minute and David Villa made it 3-0 just two minutes later.
Five minutes after the restart, a solo effort by Lionel Messi brought the Argentina forward his 16th league goal of the season - matching Cristiano Ronaldo's league-leading tally.
Barcelona, which fell to its first loss of the season last Saturday at Getafe, moved within three points of league leader Madrid, which has one game in hand.
The Catalans easily recovered from that defeat although the Madrid side proved tough to break through as it disrupted Barcelona's ability to move the ball out of the backfield early on.
Andres Iniesta returned from injury and was Barcelona's best player in the early stages as he tested goalkeeper David Cobeno with a long-range shot early on, while counterpart Victor Valdes tipped Michel Sanchez's shot over the bar at the other end.
Alexis, who has started to find his rhythm following a near two-month injury layoff, received the ball from Messi and cut back past Alejandro Arribas before floating a shot around Cobeno off the inside of the far post for the opener.
Rayo continued to try and cut Barcelona's midfield buildup and find Lass Bangoura on the counter, but Sanchez helped put the game out of reach 12 minutes later. Messi threaded a pass into the area for Xavi Hernandez, who misjudged it and the ball came off his heel to Sanchez, who chested it down before poking past Cobeno.
Gerard Pique burst forward to find Daniel Alves alone inside the area in the 43rd and the Brazil defender slid the ball over to Villa, who only needed to beat Cobeno for his fifth league goal.
Barcelona picked up where it left off after the restart as Alves played Messi down the right side and the Argentina forward burst past one defender to get clear into the area and tuck a left-footed shot under Cobeno for his 26th goal of the season.
Barcelona has outscored opponents 34-0 in eight league matches this season at the Camp Nou, where it has not conceded a goal in 11 consecutive league games.
The 17th round game was brought forward as European champion Barcelona is set to play the Club World Cup in Japan on the corresponding date in mid-December.
Madrid leads with 34 points, Barcelona has 31 and Valencia is third with 27 points.
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