A Sunday of surprises in Spain saw defeats for Sevilla and Valencia and a draw for Atletico Madrid, dpa reported.
Sevilla crashed 2-0 at home to lively Racing Santander, Valencia lost 3-1 at Mallorca, and Atletico could only draw 1-1 at Malaga.
These results could be good news for Real Madrid, who will consolidate themselves in second place if, as expected, they beat Deportivo Coruna at home in Sunday's late game.
Record-breaking Barcelona, who thrashed Numancia 4-1 on Saturday, have 53 points from 20 games. Then come Real and Sevilla on 38, with Valencia and Villarreal on 34 and Atletico and Malaga on 32.
Santander won in Seville thanks to set-piece goals from Cesar Navas and Nikola Zigic, a man who has not stopped scoring since arriving on loan from Valencia.
Santander had winger Oscar Serrano sent off before half-time, but slow, predictable Sevilla failed to take advantage of their numerical superiority.
Earlier Sunday, Mallorca had moved off the bottom of the table by thrashing dismal Valencia 3-1 in Palma.
Man-of-the-match Jose Manuel Juarado gave Mallorca the lead after just nine minutes.
Valencia look like a mediocre team without Spain strikers David Villa and Joaquin and were always chasing shadows.
In the 42nd minute, Mallorca were given a dubious penalty for a push by Raul Albiol on Jurado - and Jose Luis Marti made no mistake from the penalty spot.
Two minutes later, the majestic Juardo made it 3-0 after good work by Fernando Varela.
Mallorca were content to sit back and soak up the timid Valencia pressure in the second half. Vicente pulled a goal back for the visitors in the 73rd minute, but it was a clear case of too little, too late.
"It was about time that we played well and earned three points," Varela said.
The handsome win takes Mallorca up to third from bottom, one point above Espanyol - who scored a late 1-1 draw in Valladolid - and three above Osasuna, who drew 1-1 Saturday in Villarreal.
Malaga and Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, were playing out a tense 1- 1 draw. Antonio Apono gave Malaga an early lead, and John Heitinga levelled for Atletico just before half-time.
In Sunday's other early games, Getafe thrashed Sporting Gijon 5-1, Almeria beat Athletic Bilbao 2-1, and Recreativo Huelva overcame Betis 1-0.
