Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his first five-goal haul in Real Madrid's 9-1 hammering of Granada while title-chasing Bayern Munich and Chelsea won again in Germany and England.
Also, Arsenal shot out Liverpool with a 4-1 win on Saturday.
Here is a summary of the weekend of football played across Europe.
SPAIN
Cristiano Ronaldo hit his quickest hat-trick on the way to netting five in Real Madrid's 9-1 drubbing of Granada but there was no change at the top as leaders Barcelona secured a 1-0 win at Celta Vigo.
Portugal captain Ronaldo struck three times in eight minutes in the first half and added two headers after the break to help fire Real to their biggest victory in almost half a century.
Ronaldo's five goals took his tally in La Liga this season to 36, four ahead of Barca forward Lionel Messi, who was unable to get on the scoresheet at Celta, where Jeremy Mathieu headed the winner in the 73rd minute.
ENGLAND
Chelsea were stunned by a Charlie Adam wonder goal but recovered to beat Stoke City 2-1 and extend their Premier League lead to seven points.
Adam's 60-metre monster shot cancelled out Eden Hazard's penalty but Loic Remy netted the winner to leave Chelsea on 70 points from 30 games with Arsenal on 63 having played a game more and Manchester United on 62.
Arsenal crushed Liverpool 4-1 at the Emirates to leave Liverpool's top-four hopes hanging by a thread.
United beat Aston Villa 3-1 with Ander Herrera scoring twice, either side of a Wayne Rooney special. Manchester City can return to second place if they win at Crystal Palace on Monday.
Jermain Defoe made himself an instant Sunderland hero with a sensational volleyed goal to seal a vital 1-0 win over North East rivals Newcastle United in the Premier League on Sunday.
GERMANY
Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich shook off a string of injury absences to snatch a 1-0 victory at Borussia Dortmund with Robert Lewandowski scoring the winner on his league return to the Signal Iduna Park.
Without Arjen Robben, Frank Ribery and David Alaba, Bayern relinquished possession but shut out the hosts to remain 10 points clear of VfL Wolfsburg, who beat bottom side VfB Stuttgart 3-1.
Borussia Moenchengladbach stayed a further seven points back in third after coming from a goal down to crush Hoffenheim 4-1 away with Patrick Herrmann scoring twice.
ITALY
Miralem Pjanic's goal gave second-placed AS Roma a 1-0 win over Napoli in Serie A, their first home victory for more than four months, and in-form Lazio in third eased to a 3-1 victory over lowly Cagliari.
Carlos Tevez scored a thunderous free kick to help leaders Juventus beat Empoli 2-0 to stay 14 points clear at the top.
FRANCE
Paris St Germain retained their Ligue 1 lead after beating bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille 3-2 at the Velodrome.
Andre-Pierre Gignac scored both OM's goals but PSG, who had equalised through Blaise Matuidi, wrapped it up after the break with a strike by Marquinhos and Jeremy Morel's own goal.
French champions PSG have 62 points with seven games left, one point ahead of Olympique Lyonnais who beat En Avant Guingamp 3-1 away on Saturday. OM are third on 57 points.
NETHERLANDS
Substitute Gevero Markiet snatched a late equaliser for Utrecht as they held second-placed Ajax Amsterdam to a 1-1 draw in the Dutch league that left PSV Eindhoven with a 10-point lead at the top.
PSV, 5-0 away winners against Twente Enschede, need to win two of their remaining five games to claim a first league title since 2008.
PORTUGAL
Leaders Benfica won 3-1 at home to Nacional while Sporting, in a distant third, were held 1-1 at Pacos de Ferreira.
Second-placed Porto, six points behind Benfica, host Estoril on Monday.
GREECE
Olympiakos Piraeus are four points away from winning a 42nd domestic title despite suffering a surprise 3-1 defeat at PAS Giannina.
Olympiakos hold an eight-point lead over second-placed Panathinaikos, who threw away a two-goal lead in a 2-2 home draw with Asteras Tripolis.
Five people were taken to hospital after a group attacked a television crew ahead of a match in Greece’s second tier in the latest wave of violence to hit football in the country.
