FC Barcelona won the battle of league leaders over the weekend to become La Liga's undisputed number one coming into Week 23. Meanwhile, Real Madrid is now within one point of Atletico after trouncing Espanyol 6-0 on Sunday.

Prior to Saturday's clash at Camp Nou, Barca and Atletico were technically tied atop the La Liga standings, with the Madrid side posting slightly better numbers than their Catalan rivals, per ESPN.

Atletico midfielder Koke opened the scoring in the tenth minute by converting a deflected cross pass from the far right corner. Messi then equalized in the 30th minute, courtesy of a Jordi Alba assist. Eight minutes later, Uruguayan international Luis Suarez broke past the Atletico defense and fired a nifty goal that went between Jan Oblak's legs. The scoreline remained 2-1 for the remainder of the match.

As per Barca Blaugranes, the Camp Nou squad had possession of the ball 70 percent of the time, and did not incur any penalty cards. Meanwhile, Atletico had five yellow cards and red cards to Filipe Luis and Diego Godin.

Over at Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid made mincemeat of Espanyol as the Los Blancos delighted the home crowd with 6-0 against the Blanquiazules, BBC reported.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick, while the other three goals were scored by James Rodriguez, Karim Benzema and Espanyol's Oscar Duarte, whose right foot was the unfortunate recipient of Jese's left corner cross.

Goal noted that Real Madrid is still four points behind Barca despite playing a game more than the Camp Nou squad. Pepe thinks the Los Blancos have a long way to go before being in La Liga title contention.

"It's going to be tough. The league is complicated," the 32-year old defender admitted. "We have to keep working hard and fighting. We deserved to win today, but the opponents played their part too and they must be given credit."

As per Bleacher Report, all the results from La Liga Week 22 are the following:

•  Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid: 2-1 
•  Getafe vs Athletic Club: 0-1 
•  Eibar vs Malaga: 1-2 
•  Villarreal vs Granada: 1-0  
•  Real Sociedad vs Real Betis: 2-1  
•  Sevilla vs Levante: 3-1  
•  Valencia vs Sporting Gijon: 0-1  
•  Las Palmas vs Celta Vigo: 2-1  
•  Real Madrid vs Espanyol: 6-0  
•  Deportivo La Coruna vs Rayo Vallecano: 2-2

Barca is currently atop the La Liga standings with 16 wins, three draws and two defeats. That constitutes to the league best 51 points. Atletico Madrid isn't close behind with 48 points, while their inter-city rivals trail them by just one point. Villarreal is at fourth place with 44 points, while Sevilla is at fifth with 36 points.

The teams that are in the relegation zone are Rayo Vallecano with 20 points, Granada with 20 and Levante with 17.