Barcelona fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Valencia on Sunday night, with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid both making up ground.
An Ivan Rakitic own goal and this effort from Santi Mina were enough to claim all three points for the visitors, with Lionel Messi’s second-half strike not enough to inspire a comeback.
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The Argentine’s goal was the 500th of his career as he continues to break individual records, but he will be more concerned about his side’s current form which has now seen them lose their last three games in all competitions, while they are winless in their last four in La Liga.
It came after Atleti had piled further pressure on them prior to kick off with their 3-0 win over Granada, with Fernando Torres continuing his impressive recent form by scoring in his fourth straight game.
Coupled with Real Madrid’s 5-1 win over Getafe on Saturday, it means that Barcelona and Atletico are locked at 76 points apiece at the top of the La Liga table, while Real sit just a point adrift of the joint leaders with just five games remaining.
Naturally, that will be a huge concern for Barca having now thrown away what had looked like a commanding lead, as they continue to stutter and risk seeing their season fall apart.
Luis Enrique will be desperate to get his men back on track as soon as possible, with his side facing a trip to Deportivo on Wednesday night.
Elsewhere, Villarreal fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano, Sevilla were held to a 1-1 draw by Deportivo while in contrast Athletic Bilbao picked up a battling 1-0 win at Malaga.
La Liga results:
Levante 2-1 Espanyol
Getafe 1-5 Real Madrid
Las Palmas 1-1 Sporting Gijon
Eibar 2-1 Real Sociedad
Celta 1-1 Betis
Malaga 0-1 Athletic Bilbao
Sevilla 1-1 Deportivo
Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Villarreal
Atletico 3-0 Granada
Barcelona 1-2 Valencia