Barcelona and their formidable South American attacking trident can take another step towards a sixth Spanish league title in eight years when they play at lowly las Palmas on Sunday.
Wednesday’s 3-1 victory at Sporting Gijon fired Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez and company six points clear of second-placed Atletico Madrid with 14 games remaining and seven ahead of Real Madrid, who are a point behind their city rivals in third.
A Barca victory in the Canary Islands - at a safe distance from the winter cold on the mainland - would make it eight on the trot in La Liga for the Catalans and stretch their club record unbeaten run to 32 games in all competitions.
Barca coach Luis Enrique, who secured a treble of Champions League, La Liga and Spanish Cup triumphs in his first season in charge in 2014-15, said he and the players would not be distracted by Tuesday’s Champions League last 16, first leg at Arsenal.
“We will not be thinking about Arsenal for the next few days, we will only be thinking about Las Palmas,” he said.
“We are trying to take things a game at a time and only focus on the next match.”
Aleix Vidal - who is pushing Dani Alves hard for the right-back slot - promised there would be no relaxation despite facing a team third from bottom.
“We are not going to relax until the trophies are in our hands, it’s as simple as that. We know that the next three months are going to be very intense and difficult.”
Asked if he was worried that Barca had missed eight of their 16 penalties this season, Vidal replied: “We have several specialists for penalties, and they just happen to be the best players in the world.”
But what exactly will happen if Barca are awarded another penalty?  Will Messi shoot for goal or will he pass to a team-mate, as he famously did to Luis Suarez in the 6-1 drubbing of Celta Vigo?
Or will he unselfishly let Suarez, the La Liga top scorer, or Neymar take it, like he did in Gijon (when Suarez missed)?
“This penalty situation has become a bit strange,” commented Catalan radio RAC1.
“Let’s just hope that it doesn’t one day cost the team vital points in the league or success in the Champions League.”
Barca veterans Javier Mascherano and Andres Iniesta should start in Las Palmas after being rested against Gijon, while Sergio Busquets is suspended.
Meanwhile, the islanders will be without the injured Hernan Santana.
Saturday will also see struggling Espanyol at home to Deportivo La Coruna, Real Betis hosting Gijon and Eibar at Celta Vigo, with bottom team Levante having played at home to Getafe on Friday.
Sunday’s big game will be Atletico Madrid against Villarreal, who are fourth, with Atletico fan favourite Fernando Torres leading the attack in the Spanish capital after rediscovering his scoring touch.
“It’s wonderful to be scoring goals again,” Torres said.
“As a team, we have not really scored as many goals as we should have done this season but there is still time to remedy that.”
Atletico have a difficult week ahead of them, with looming trips to PSV Eindhoven and neighbours Real.
Real - on a high after Wednesday’s 2-0 win at Roma - play at Malaga on Sunday without injury victims Pepe and Gareth Bale and with Raphael Varane suspended.
Sunday’s other games are Rayo Vallecano at home to in-form Sevilla, while Athletic Bilbao host Basque rivals Real Sociedad and Granada play at home to reviving Valencia.