Madrid: Atletico Madrid maintained a two-point lead in La Liga with a 3-0 victory at Las Palmas and Barcelona and Real Madrid stayed hard on their heels with thumping wins over Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Gijon on Sunday.

A rare goal from Atletico fullback Filipe Luis and a second-half Antoine Griezmann double lifted Diego Simeone's side to 47 points from 20 matches.

Lionel Messi, who presented the fifth Ballon d'Or he won this week to fans before kickoff at the Nou Camp, struck from the spot to set Barca on their way to a 6-0 success against 10-man Bilbao, with La Liga top scorer Luis Suarez netting a hat-trick. Bilbao conceded the early penalty when goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz felled Suarez and was shown a straight red card and Barca put the Basque club to the sword.

The Spanish and European champions, who have a game in hand over their main rivals, are two points behind Atletico in second, with Real a further two points adrift in third.

Earlier on Sunday, Real continued their serene progress under new coach Zinedine Zidane when Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema scored twice apiece in a 5-1 destruction of Gijon.

Atletico initially struggled for control at Las Palmas before Filipe Luis drilled a shot into the corner.  Spain playmaker Koke sent Griezmann clear to make it 2-0 and the pair combined again to complete the scoring a minute from time.  Bilbao never looked like troubling Barca once they went a man down and Neymar made it 2-0 when he lifted the ball over substitute keeper Iago Herrerin.

Suarez struck two minutes into the second half after exchanging passes with Neymar and the Brazil forward set up Ivan Rakitic to make it 4-0 in the 62nd minute.  Suarez netted his second seven minutes later from Arda’s pass and completed his treble to move clear at the top of the scoring chart on 18 goals, two more than Ronaldo and Benzema.

Meanwhile, Lionel Messi did not sustain a hamstring injury during the match. “Tests conducted this morning on first-team player Lionel Messi have ruled out a hamstring injury in the right leg and he is merely suffering some mild discomfort,” Barca said on their website.