With the title race back on, both Barcelona and Real Madrid need to take all three points out of their respective fixtures from here to the end of the season. Only three days after 'El Clasico', it was back to work as Barcelona faced bottom of the league side, Osasuna, for their first test.
The hosts began on the front foot, claiming possession but unable to breach the away side's defence. The Catalans patiently looked for an opening, until Messi thanked the Camp Nou crowd for their homage to his 500 Barca goals, the only way he knows how to.
The Barcelona number '10' took advantage of a mistake in the Osasuna defence, and raced towards Sirigu before flicking the ball casually over the keeper. Once the deadlock had been broken, the players began to enjoy themselves.
Osasuna continued to leave no spaces, but the hosts gradually came closer to a second. Finally, Rakitic curled in a cross from the right, for Gomes to fire the ball superbly into the corner.
A surging start to the second half from Osasuna saw Roberto Torres cut the difference through a superbly-struck free kick that wrong-footed Ter Stegen. Yet another goal conceded cast a shadow on Barcelona's performance, though the hosts reconstituted themselves well to dissipate any possible doubts, scoring four goals in 10 minutes.
First, Gomes scored his second of the match picking up the rebound after Pique lashed against the post. Without giving Osasuna a moment to breathe, Messi also scored his double, curling the ball inside the near post with a trademark strike. The crowd got to their feet as Enrique decided to rest his star, but the ovation was cut short with Alcacer also getting on the scoresheet.
Osasuna were taken aback by such a surge from the hosts, as it looked like they had awakened a beast with their goal, but it was about to get worse. Denis Suarez went down in the box and a penalty was given to Barcelona. Mascherano was the man who stood up to take the spot-kick, and the defender converted, to score his first La Liga goal in over 300 matches.
Barcelona then seemed to take a step back and have mercy on relegation-bound Osasuna, but not before Alcacer latched on to a Denis Suarez through ball to score his second.
The Camp Nou enjoyed the game, Luis Enrique's team did what they had to do and put all the pressure on Real Madrid. The race for La Liga is on.