A toothless Real Madrid were held 0-0 at home by 10-man Malaga on Saturday while a Luis Suarez double gave Barcelona a 2-1 victory over Las Palmas. 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.
"We are angry because we could have won and didn't," Real keeper Keylor Navas told reporters.
"There's a long way to go, we will try not to lose more and achieve our objectives."
Barca, who were looking to rebound from a 4-1 hammering by Celta Vigo on Wednesday, 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 full-time.
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.
Villarreal welcome Atletico Madrid and Celta visit Eibar.
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.