Real Madrid stretched their lead to six points when Angel Di Maria, Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo struck in a 3-0 win at La Liga strugglers Sporting Gijon on Saturday.
It was Real's 10th consecutive league victory and their 14th in a row in all competitions as they continued their impressive run ahead of next weekend's opening 'Clasico' of the campaign at home to second-placed Barcelona. The Spanish and European champions can trim the deficit to three points with a win at home to Levante later on Saturday (1900 GMT) but will have played a game more than Jose Mourinho's side by the time the teams meet at the Bernabeu.
Barca's 4-0 win over Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday was a game brought forward because of their participation in the Club World Cup in Japan later this month. Real have 37 points from 14 matches.
Valencia, who host Espanyol in Saturday's late kickoff (2100), are third with 27 from 13 games with surprise packages Levante a point further back in fourth. Argentina winger Di Maria opened the scoring in the 35th minute at the Molinon when he surprised goalkeeper Juan Pablo at his near post.
La Liga top scorer Ronaldo added the second in the 65th, the Portuguese forward's 17th league goal of the season, and Brazil fullback Marcelo made it 3-0 in added time. Gijon, who finished with 10 men after Sebastian Eguren was shown a second yellow card in the 80th minute, are 19th with 12 points and will go bottom if Real Zaragoza win at Granada on Sunday.
