lionel Messi, with his 500th Barcelona goal, and luis Suarez saved the Spanish champions from a second defeat in six days as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Sevilla.
Victory on Sunday keeps Barca just two points adrift of Real Madrid, who were 3-0 victors over leganes thanks to a double from Gareth Bale.
Messi inspired a spirited Barca fightback fresh from a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City in the Champions league on Tuesday after a first-half dominated by Sevilla.
"There is no one like him and our objective as a team is to look for leo as much as possible," Barca boss luis Enrique told Spanish TV station Movistar.
"The capacity Messi has to play in any position and interpret what is happening on the field is laudable."
With the cast of the Game of Thrones among those watching on in Seville, the game got off to a frantic start. The hosts had two shots on goal inside 50 seconds, but from a Sevilla corner Barca broke forward at lightning speed and Suarez's effort from Neymar's layoff was brilliantly saved by Sergio Rico.
Sevilla remained on the front foot for most of the first-half and got their reward on 15 minutes when Pablo Sarabia's pass bamboozled Sergi Roberto and Vitolo charged through to open the scoring.
Sarabia passed up a great chance to make it two when he took the bizarre decision to backheel the ball towards the edge of the area when he had just Marc-Andre ter Stegen to beat.
Barca made Sevilla pay with another brilliant counter-attack to level two minutes before half-time as this time Messi curled Neymar's pass into the bottom corner.
The goal was Messi's 500th for Barca including friendlies, but he should have had more after the break as only a brilliant block from Mariano and save from Rico prevented the Barca captain turning the game around.
Messi turned provider for the winner just after the hour mark as he teed up Suarez to drill the ball low past Rico. Rico produced an incredible stop to prevent Suarez making it 3-1, but a huge error from Ter Stegen at the other end nearly cost Barca the win as he flapped at a corner and Steven N'Zonzi headed inches wide the goal gaping.
Meanwhile, Real Sociedad became the latest team to join the tight title race in Spain.
Taking advantage of two second-half penalty kicks, Real Sociedad defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Saturday so that six teams are separated by only five points atop la liga.
Forward Carlos Vela converted a 54th-minute penalty and striker Willian Jose scored from the spot in the 75th to give Real Sociedad its fourth win in five matches, and the fourth consecutive win at home.
"The truth is we are going through an incredible moment," Vela said. "We know there is a lot of tournament left, but we are enjoying this moment, and we want to be fighting for great things in the end."
leader Real Madrid hosts leganes on Sunday, and second-place Barcelona plays at fourth-place Sevilla.
Atletico remained third, and Real Sociedad was sixth. Fifth-place Villarreal hosts Real Betis on Sunday.
It was the second loss in three league games for Atletico, which had been held scoreless only twice before Saturday's game.
"There are no excuses, they were better than us," Atletico defender Juanfran Torres said. "We have time to prepare for the match against Madrid. We have to keep our heads high and certainly we will win at home."
Atletico and Madrid play the derby at Vicente Calderon Stadium on Nov. 19, after the international break.
Atletico had the league lead until a 1-0 loss at Sevilla two rounds ago, a result that dropped Diego Simone's team to fifth place. It rebounded with a 4-2 over Malaga in the last round, but missed a chance to join Madrid atop the standings after its loss on Saturday.
Forward Kevin Gameiro had an opportunity to give Atletico a 1-0 lead in the first half but his shot from inside the area struck the post in pouring rain in the northern city of San Sebastian.
"We had a great first half and created good scoring chances, especially the one with Gameiro," Simeone said, "but in the second half they started better and we couldn't find a way to even the match."
last-place Granada remained the only winless team after this home draw. Granada equalized nine minutes from time thanks to an own goal by Deportivo goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton.
Granada goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made a brilliant save on a close-range shot near the end to keep the hosts from losing for the eighth time in 11 games.
Osasuna's struggles continued with a home loss, leaving the promoted club in the relegation zone with only one win. Forward Christian Santos converted a 77th-minute winner for Alaves, which hadn't won in four rounds. Alaves is 12th.
Other Games
Villarreal scored a goal in each half to defeat Betis 2-0 and moved to third place with 22 points, five behind Real Madrid.
Seventh-placed Athletic Bilbao was held to a 0-0 draw at Espanyol for its third straight game without a league win.
Celta Vigo moved to eighth after coming from behind to beat Valencia 2-1 at home. Swedish forward John Guidetti scored Celta's winner in the 77th.