Joao Felix scored the winner against his parent club as Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 at home to move above them in the LaLiga table.
Felix, who joined Barca on loan during the summer, grabbed the only goal with a deft finish in the 28th minute – five days on from scoring his side’s second in their 2-1 Champions League victory over Porto.
Raphinha almost doubled the lead when he hit a post after the break, before Barca goalkeeper Inaki Pena came to the fore with some fine saves that included turning a Memphis Depay free-kick against the crossbar.
Xavi’s men replace Diego Simeone’s Atletico in third, with a four-point gap to leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Girona – Barcelona’s opponents at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium next Sunday.
Barca had a starting line-up unchanged from the Porto match until an issue in the warm-up for Inigo Martinez resulted in the defender being replaced by Andreas Christensen.
After the contest got under way, the home side had a chance in the opening seconds as Raphinha advanced into the box and shot wide.
Fellow forward Robert Lewandowski hit a subsequent volley off-target, before Felix put the hosts in front, collecting the ball from Raphinha, getting past Nahuel Molina and lifting the ball over Jan Oblak in delightful fashion.
The Portuguese then saw his flick well kept out by Oblak with a minute of normal time remaining in the first half.
Raphinha went closer in the 57th minute as his shot came back off a post, shortly before Pena produced a good save to keep out an Alvaro Morata attempt.
After Felix put another attempt wide, there were then further heroics from Pena in the 80th minute as he diverted ex-Barca man Depay’s free-kick onto the bar.
Lewandowski tried his luck again six minutes later, shooting wide, before Pena excelled once again in stoppage time to thwart Depay’s fellow substitute Angel Correa and ensure the champions claimed three points.
Militao set for surgery after suffering ACL injury in Osasuna victory
Real Madrid confirmed that defender Eder Militao will undergo surgery after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in their 4-0 win over Osasuna.
Militao was forced off in the 30th minute of their LaLiga clash at the Bernabeu on Saturday after hyperextending his knee in an attempt to reach the ball.
The Brazilian, who missed six months of last season with a serious knee injury, received treatment on the pitch before being stretched off with tears in his eyes.
He becomes the second Madrid player to suffer an ACL injury this term after Dani Carvajal was sidelined for the rest of the campaign last month.
"Following tests carried out today on our player Eder Militao by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament with involvement of both menisci in his right leg. Militao will undergo surgery in the coming days," Real Madrid said in a statement.
Either side of Militao's injury, team-mates Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez were also forced off the pitch, overshadowing a much-needed return to winning ways.
Carlo Ancelotti said he will be looking to bring in some of the club's youth academy players into the first-team picture to fill the gaps in their injury-hit squad.
Madrid are also without Thibaut Courtois, Aurelien Tchouameni and David Alaba through injury, though Ancelotti was not thinking about making new signings in January.
"I'm not thinking about signings right now because we have to prepare for games with the players we have," Ancelotti told a press conference.
"Three injuries in the first half is quite rare. The demanding schedule doesn't allow the players to rest and be fresh.
"We will evaluate the situation in the coming months. The only thing we can do is try to recover as many players as possible. We will see in January what happens."
"Today (academy defender) Raul Asencio came off the bench and made a good contribution, (midfielder) Federico Valverde played fine as a full back.
"We did well last year when we had injuries, and we will do the same this year as well."
Real Madrid 4-0 Osasuna: Vinicius hat-trick helps hosts to an easy win
Vinicius Junior scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid ended a run of back-to-back losses in all competitions by hammering Osasuna 4-0 in LaLiga on Saturday.
The victory cut the gap to league leaders Barcelona to six points, with Carlo Ancelotti's side having lost El Clasico in their previous league game.
Vinicius opened the scoring in the 34th minute at the Bernabeu after controlling a pass from Jude Bellingham perfectly to beat the offside trap and fire past goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.
Bellingham then turned scorer eight minutes later, chipping the ball over Herrera's head to double his side's lead.
While that goal put Real Madrid in a commanding position, Vinicius ended it as a contest in the second half with goals in the 61st and 69th minutes. Following the result, Osasuna are fifth on 21 points.
Data debrief: Vinicius helps Real Madrid back into form
Vinicius scored his second hat-trick in under a month on Saturday, having done the same in Real Madrid's 5-2 victory at home to Dortmund in the Champions League on 22 October.
It was also his third within the calendar year, while he now has 11 goal involvements in 10 matches against Osasuna in the league – more than any other team in LaLiga.
The victory today was Real Madrid's third straight league victory against Osasuna in which they have scored four or more goals, while they are now unbeaten in their last 19 (W15 D4) against them.
Yamal could miss La Real trip, says Barca boss Flick
Lamine Yamal may not be fit to feature for Barcelona against Real Sociedad in Sunday's LaLiga clash, says head coach Hansi Flick.
Yamal has been training alone in an attempt to recover after a hectic schedule for the Blaugrana.
Pau Cubarsi is in contention, however, after suffering a facial injury in Wednesday's 5-2 Champions League win at Red Star Belgrade.
Cubarsi participated in a full training session with the team, though 17-year-old Yamal was not present.
"Lamine was inside and he did specific strength training. He has had a lot of matches in the last few weeks so we took care of him and let him [train separately] indoors. We will see what his situation is tomorrow," Flick told reporters on Saturday.
Flick heaped praise on Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 19 goals in 16 appearances across all competitions.
"He is in very good shape. I am also impressed with how he helps the defence. For me, there are no thoughts about giving him a rest," he added.
"Dani [Olmo] felt a little bit unwell at night but this morning he is doing better, so with him just treatments and medicine, I think he is ready for tomorrow against Sociedad."
La Real have fared better on the road, collecting 11 of their 15 points away and losing four of their six home matches, with their only victory in front of their own fans coming against lowly Valencia.
Barcelona, on 33 points from 12 matches, are six points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who have 27 from 12 games.
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