Needing to make up ground, Real Madrid showed intent from the very first whistle and got an early penalty when Kylian Mbappe pounced on Pau Cubarsi’s mistake and was taken out by Wojciech Szczesny.
The Frenchman then beat Barca’s goalkeeper from the spot despite him getting a hand to the ball, putting Los Blancos ahead just five minutes into proceedings.
Mbappe added another before the quarter-hour mark, just about staying onside and latching onto Vinicius Junior’s through-ball before coolly slotting his shot past Szczesny.
Thibaut Courtois eye-catchingly denied Lamine Yamal and Gerard Martin, but there was no stopping Eric Garcia when Ferran Torres flicked on Dani Olmo’s corner for the defender to head home.
While Barca remained on the front foot, Ferran couldn’t convert Martin’s low cross and Yamal’s latest shot was saved.
Undeterred, the 17-year-old met Ferran’s lay-off with a superb first-time shot that curled into the bottom corner.
The chances kept coming, and a mix-up between Mbappe and Dani Ceballos was punished by Raphinha racing onto Pedri’s through ball and beating Courtois to complete a 15-minute turnaround.
Moments after Raphinha headed over, Real Madrid thought they had another penalty but saw it ruled out, and instead had another mistake punished by Raphinha after he had pickpocketed Lucas Vazquez and fired home at close range.
The action was relentless, and Mbappe had a goal ruled out for offside moments prior to the break.
Carlo Ancelotti duly made a double change ahead of the restart, though it did little to affect the overall flow, as Yamal had the ball in the visitors’ net again before long, but had his goal ruled out due to Raphinha straying offside before teeing him up.
Mbappe then came close to picking out the bottom corner, but eventually got his hat-trick when Vinicius raced onto Luka Modric’s pass and laid the ball across for Mbappe to convert.
Raphinha missed a big opportunity before Yamal and Ferran were both denied, but debutant Victor Munoz couldn’t provide a late equaliser and Los Blancos’ celebrations were halted by the offside flag again.
So, despite Fermin Lopez’s late goal being ruled out for handball, Barcelona won to extend their lead atop LaLiga to seven points, meaning they need just one win from their last three matches to win the title and complete their treble.
In doing so, they also ended Real Madrid’s four-game winning run in the league.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)