FC Barcelona overcame some nervous moments against relegation threatened Tenerife to win 4-1 and once again open up a four point lead over title challengers Real Madrid.

Real Madrid plays away to Mallorca on Wednesday night and anything other than a win will leave Madrid out of the title race.

Barcelona started well and opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Leo Messi scored his 30th league goal of the season following a cross from Dani Alves and a touch from Zlatan Ibrahimovich.

The home side controlled the first half on a rainy night in the Camp Nou Stadium, but failed to add a second goal and Tenerife drew level six minutes before halftime as Roman took advantage of an error from Barca captain Carles Puyol.

The second half began with Barcelona looking nervous and rushing their moves, but they retook the lead after 62 minutes when young striker Bojan Krkic confirmed his excellent form by taking a pass from Alves before scoring past Tenerife keeper Sergio Aragoneses.

Pedro Rodriguez made the result safe 15 minutes from time after a pass from Leo Messi and Messi put the icing on the cake with his second of the night in injury time.

Tuesday night' s other matches saw Almeria assure its place in the Primera Liga for next season at the expense of Villarreal.

Almeria took a 3-0 lead thanks to Crusat and Uche, who scored twice. However, Villarreal, a side aiming to qualify for Europe next season, pulled two goals back through Marcano and Ibagaza before Piatti assured the points deep into injury time.

Getafe' s European ambitions also suffered a setback with a 1-1 home draw against Sporting Gijon. De las Cuevas scored for the visitors but Roberto Soldado' s overhead kick assured a share of the points. The draw takes Sporting closer to avoiding relegation.

Finally Xerez is on the brink of relegation after a 3-1 defeat in Valencia. Armenteros opened the scoring for the visitors but two goals from Juan Mata and one from David Silva mean that should Malaga and Racing Santander win on Wednesday, Xerez will go down.