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Barcelona increased their lead at the top of La Liga to six points with a convincing 4-0 win over Sevilla at the Camp Nou.

Second half strikes from Thierry Henry (pictured) and Xavi were added to first half efforts from Samuel Eto'o and Andres Iniesta as the hosts ran out comfortable victors over their third placed rivals.

It took Barcelona only three minutes to open the scoring when Iniesta ghosted past some distinctly half-hearted challenges and placed his shot superbly into the top corner from the edge of the area.

Eto'o had the next of a string of first half chances when he was put through by Iniesta, however the striker lifted the ball over the bar from close range.

More opportunities followed for the home side, but on a rare counter attack Sevilla could have equalised against the run of play when a left wing cross from Diego Capel eluded the Barca back line and Jesus Navas failed to take the opportunity with a poor header.

The visitors were made to pay for their profligacy after 17 minutes when a typically incisive passing move involving Iniesta again ended with little more than a tap in for Eto'o in front of goal.

The home side could have added at least two more in the opening period as chances for Gerard Pique and Henry came and went before Sevilla squandered their second decent opportunity of the evening.

It was another left wing cross from Capel that found Arouna Kone unmarked in a central position in the penalty area, but his free header was well wide of Victor Valdes' left hand post.

Such was Barcelona's dominance that they could afford to leave Lionel Messi on the bench all evening and it took only four minutes of the second half for the hosts to prove that tactic correct when they added a third.

A typically flowing passing move turned defence into attack and Xavi applied the finish with aplomb with a casual side-footed effort into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

Henry finished off Sevilla's limited resistance five minutes later when man-of-the-match Iniesta fed the French striker who took a touch before sliding the ball perfectly into the far corner to make it four nil to Barcelona.

Elsewhere, a clinical double from David Villa helped fourth-placed Valencia to a 2-1 win at Real Betis, their fifth straight victory.

Unai Emery's Valencia side cemented their hold on the fourth Champions League qualification spot and put pressure on Sevilla thanks to Villa's 24th and 25th league goals of the season which lifted them to 55 points from 32 matches.

Juan Mata's low cross from the left in the 66th minute looked harmless until Villa nipped in front of the Betis defence and diverted the ball between his legs past goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira.

The Spain international grabbed his second with just over 10 minutes left after good work from midfielder Edu to close in on league top scorer Samuel Eto'o, who has netted 27 for Barca.

Betis, who stay in 10th, scored a late consolation goal when striker Ricardo de Oliveira smashed home Juanma Gomez's long pass from a tight angle.

Salva Ballesta scored the winner for promoted Malaga in a 3-2 victory at Osasuna which lifted the Andalusians into fifth on 50 points, above Atletico Madrid and Villarreal who both play on Thursday.

Osasuna finished the match in Pamplona with eight players after Patxi Punal, Josetxo and Krisztian Vadocz were sent off. The referee also dismissed Malaga's Jesus Gamez.

Deportivo Coruna won 2-0 at home to Almeria thanks to second-half goals from Joan Verdu and Lassad and stayed eighth, level on 49 points with Atletico and Villarreal.

Sean Calvert / Reuters