Luis Enrique's men were below their best against Villarreal and threw away a two-goal lead at El Madrigal, but the champion has still not lost since October. Next up: El Clasico.
The rest will do Barcelona good. The Catalans stretched their unbelievable unbeaten run to 39 matches with a 2-2 draw at Villarreal on Sunday, but this was the team's poorest performance in some time. After the forthcoming international break, Real Madrid is up next at Camp Nou.
Barca almost went behind after 42 seconds at El Madrigal as Villarreal hit the post in its first attack and Claudio Bravo gratefully pounced on the ball before one of the home side's attackers could follow up on the rebound.