( CNN ) Barcelona 's chances of winning the Spanish league where dealt a huge blow Saturday as they were beaten 1-0 by Malaga at the Camp Nou Stadium . A mistake by Barcelona defender Dani Alves in the eighth minute allowed Juanmi to fire Malaga in to the lead , a lead they maintained relatively comfortably . The defeat left them in second place just a point behind behind Real but with their Madrid rivals still to play its one game in hand . Much of the talk before this weekend 's round of fixtures surrounded the effectiveness of MSN versus BBC ; acronyms for the players that have been pivotal in attack for Barcelona and Real Madrid this season . Messi , Suarez and Neymar for the former ; Benzema , Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo for the latter . Up until the start of the year , Real Madrid 's strike force had dominated . But since the start of 2015 Barcelona 's new look triumvirate has thrived . Lionel Messi has scored 14 goals alone , two more than the entire Real strike force , whilst Neymar has bagged ten goals , and Suarez four . But the three players were surprisingly subdued and had no answer to Malaga 's resolute defending . `` We 're used to these kind of games . I 'd like it to be an accident but it is becoming habit , the opposition close up and we ca n't find a way through , '' Barcelona boss Luis Enrique told AFP after the game . `` These kind of results are sometimes a good reminder that other sides have their qualities . You could consider this a deserved defeat . '' The result ended a superb run of form for Barcelona , who had won their last 11 matches in all competitions and scored 42 goals in the process . `` They scored and shut up shop , '' added a frustrated Sergio Busquets . `` They let us use the ball out wide and we tried , but the final ball was n't there and we did n't create clear cut chances . '' Real Madrid can go four points clear of Barcelona on Sunday when they play Elche .
Barcelona beaten at home by Malaga . Malaga , Real Madrid and Malaga strangely subdued . Real can got one points clear weekend .