Barcelona defeats Espanyol in derby, leapfrogs Real Madrid in title race

Barcelona slayed another dragon on Saturday, claiming a 3-0 victory at RCD Espanyol to leapfrog Real Madrid in La Liga's title race.

For the ninth time this season, Luis Suarez was the player to open the scoring. Jurado hit the self-destruct button by using the outside of his foot to play a ball directly into the Uruguayan cannibal's path, and the product of Nacional merely needed to beat Diego Lopez.

From there, Barcelona continued to pile on the pressure. Ivan Rakitic produced a lovely finish to double the Blaugrana's lead, and Suarez scored his second goal of the night, bagging his 118th tally for the Catalan club in all competitions to surpass Hristo Stoichkov.

The result put Barcelona level on points with Real Madrid atop the standings, but the Blaugrana hold the better head-to-head record after the wonderful edition of El Clasico on Sunday, in which the Catalan club claimed a 3-2 victory. It must be noted, however, that Los Blancos possess a game in hand.