Luis Enrique might be on his way out of Barcelona at the end of the season, but the defending champions put themselves in a good position to give their manager the perfect goodbye by taking the lead back in the La Liga title race at the expense of Real Madrid.
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It might have seemed all doom and gloom for Barca after their heavy defeat to PSG in the UEFA Champions League last month, but since then the Spanish champions, led by the irrepressible Lionel Messi, have found their form and moved back to the summit in the league.
With Barcelona playing the earlier game to Real Madrid, Enrique's side ensured the pressure would be on Real by absolutely thumping Sporting Gijon 6-1.
Real Madrid, in reply, could only manage a 3-3 draw against Las Palmas, and that too only thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's two late goals.
Messi, expectedly, got the goal glut started, with Luis Suarez, Paco Alcacer, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic also getting in on the goalscoring act as Sporting failed to find an answer to stop the Barca attackers.
Following the victory, Enrique announced he would step down as Barcelona manager at the end of the season. Enrique has been under pressure after the defeat suffered against PSG, but the manager has been hugely successful since taking over at Barca, leading them to two La Liga titles, two Copa Del Reys and a Champions League crown, in 2015, when they beat Juventus in the final.
Real Madrid would have known they needed a win to stay atop the La Liga standings, but things did not go as planned.
After Isco opened the scoring for Zinedine Zidane's side in the eighth minute, Pedro Tana equalised for Las Palmas just two minutes later.
The game swung the way of the away side when Gareth Bale was shown a second yellow card for an altercation with Jonathan Viera.
Las Palmas looked to be headed for a victory, courtesy goals from Viera and Kevin-Prince Boateng that put them 3-1 ahead at the Bernabeu, but Real Madrid refused to give in.
Ronaldo made it 3-2 in the 86th minute from the penalty spot, before the superstar salvaged a point for Real Madrid with a strike in the 89th minute.
Barcelona currently lead the La Liga by one point from Real Madrid, but Zidane's side do have a game in hand.
