A toothless Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home by 10-man Malaga while a Luis Suarez double gave Barcelona a 2-1 victory over Las Palmas on Saturday (Sunday NZT).
Barca's victory provisionally put them top of La Liga but it came at a cost as Lionel Messi suffered a serious injury and was ruled out for up to two months.
Real pushed forward from the start but a combination of fine goalkeeping from Carlos Kameni and near misses prevented them from breaking the deadlock.
Malaga's most dangerous player Nordin Amrabat was sent off for elbowing Marcelo after 76 minutes, but Real could not find a way through, and it was a frustrating match for Cristiano Ronaldo and his fellow forwards.
Barca, who were looking to rebound from a 4-1 hammering by Celta Vigo on Wednesday (Thursday NZT), lost Messi after just nine minutes with a knee injury following a clash of legs.
Suarez gave Barca the breakthrough with a powerful header from a Sergi Roberto cross after 25 minutes and then fired into the roof of the net following a well-worked move after 54.
Neymar blazed a penalty over the crossbar after 66 minutes and Las Palmas pulled a goal back with a deflected Jonathan Viera strike two minutes from fulltime.
Barca have 15 points from six games, a point more than Real and two ahead of Celta Vigo and Villarreal, who play later on Saturday (Sunday NZT).
Villarreal welcome Atletico Madrid and Celta visit Eibar.
'BAD LUCK'
"He (Messi) is the best player in the world, our best player and the most dangerous so we are going to notice this," midfielder Sergio Busquets told reporters.
"We are having a lot of bad luck with injuries and particularly now when we cannot sign players."
The game was barely under way when Messi, who was in the process of shooting, collided with Daniel Castellano after three minutes.
He tried to continue but was eventually forced off the pitch, with the club later confirming that tests had shown he had suffered knee ligament damage.
Suarez's opening goal was Barca's first clear chance, with the Uruguayan jumping well to direct his header into the corner.
The tension was taken out of the game when Suarez doubled his tally, cracking the ball home from 12 metres after Munir El Haddadi crossed from the right and Busquets left the ball for the former Liverpool striker to finish.
Neymar's missed penalty followed a handball by Antolin Alcaraz while the lively Viera got a consolation for Las Palmas with a shot that deflected off Pique.
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