It was all open at the top of La Liga on Saturday after Barça conceded three goals in seven minutes in an unexpected 3-1 defeat by Levante.
It left Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla all with the chance to claim top spot but none of them seized the initiative.
Later on Sunday Granada also missed an opportunity to overtake them all, but they also failed to go top again after losing 2-1 to Real Sociedad.
On Saturday Barça arrived in Valencia to play Levante as overwhelming favourites, especially with the recent form of Messi, whose first-half penalty was the 500th of his career with his left foot, and his sixth goal in five games. Yet Levante then stunned the defending champions with an incredible three goals shortly after the hour.
‘Everything unravelled,’ said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. ‘We didn’t start the second half well, we weren’t creating chances and although they weren’t either they suddenly scored two goals. The third one hurt us a lot.’
To make matters worse, Luis Suarez went off in the 41st minute with a calf injury and could be in doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League game at home to Slavia Prague.
Atletico Madrid and Sevilla later played out a 1-1 draw on Saturday, where Diego Costa missed a penalty, before Real Madrid squandered a string of opportunities at the Santiago Bernabeu in a 0-0 draw against Real Betis.
La Liga results from Matchday 12 (of 38) played between 2-3 November
Played Saturday 2 November
Espanyol 1 Valencia 2
Levante 3 Barcelona 1
Sevilla 1 Atletico Madrid 1
Real Madrid 0 Real Betis 0
Played Sunday 3 November
Valladolid 3 Mallorca 0
Villarreal 0 Athletic Bilbao 0
Osasuna 4 Alaves 2
Celta Vigo 0 Getafe 1
Leganes 1 Eibar 2
Granada 1 Real Sociedad 2
La Liga results from Matchday 11 (of 38) played between 29-31 October
Played Tuesday 29 October
Alaves 1 Atletico Madrid 1
FC Barcelona 5 Valladolid1
Played Wednesday 30 October
Real Sociedad 1 Levante 2
Valencia 1 Sevilla 1
Athletic Bilbao 3 Espanyol 0
Real Betis 2 Celta Vigo 1
Real Madrid 5 Leganes 0
Played Thursday 31 October
Eibar 2 Villarreal 1
Mallorca 2 Osasuna 2
Getafe 3 Granada 1
La Liga Table – Monday 4 November 2019
(Played, Won, Drawn, Lost, Goals For/Against, Points)
Barcelona 11 7 1 3 29 14 22
Real Madrid 11 6 4 1 21 9 22
Real Sociedad 12 7 1 4 20 13 22
Atletico Madrid 12 5 6 1 12 7 21
Sevilla 12 6 3 3 15 13 21
Granada 12 6 2 4 19 15 20
Getafe 12 5 4 3 18 15 19
Villarreal 12 5 3 4 25 16 18
Osasuna 12 4 6 2 16 13 18
Athletic Bilbao 12 4 5 3 11 7 17
Levante 12 5 2 5 15 14 17
Valladolid 12 4 5 3 14 14 17
Valencia 12 4 5 3 17 18 17
Eibar 12 4 3 5 14 17 15
Real Betis 12 3 4 5 14 21 13
Alaves 12 3 3 6 11 18 12
Mallorca 12 3 2 7 9 18 11
Celta Vigo 12 2 3 7 6 15 9
Espanyol 12 2 2 8 6 20 8
Leganes 12 1 2 9 6 21 5
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