Real held at Murcia, Barca win to go second
Brazil forward Robinho headed Real in front early on but Murcia battled back to level through Enrique de Lucas at the start of the second half.
Earlier, Barca put a troubled few days behind them with a laboured 3-0 home win over lowly Recreativo Huelva.
Edmilson's criticisms of the lack of commitment of some of his team mates had dominated headlines before the game, and it was far from the reaction coach Frank Rijkaard had hoped for early on.
But goals two minutes apart from Argentina's Gabriel Milito and Bojan Krkic midway through the second half broke Recre's resistance. Lionel Messi added a penalty to round it off near the end.
They went second on 27 points with third-placed Villarreal, who host promoted Almeria on Sunday.
In the day's other game, Real Mallorca surprised Sevilla in the Sanchez Pizjuan winning 2-1 thanks to superb first-half goals from Argentine Ariel Ibagaza and Fernando Varela.
Sevilla pulled one back after the break from the head of Frederic Kanoute, but they were unable to complete the comeback despite Mallorca finishing with 10 men.
Mallorca moved up to eighth with 19 points, while Sevilla stayed 10th with 15.
In Murcia, a well-worked passing move finished with Guti crossing to the back post for Robinho to put Real in command with a header after only eight minutes.
Bernd Schuster's side, with Pepe back in the centre of defence after almost three months out with injury, were dominant. But Real eased off and De Lucas's diving header from a corner in the 49th levelled the game.
Schuster turned to Dutch winger Arjen Robben, back after a month out injured, but Real's task was made harder when Guti foolishly earned himself a straight red card near the end.
With their tails up, Murcia's Henok Goitom missed two clear chances to wrap up the win, as Real were rocked back in the closing minutes.
Barcelona were without Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho, who had pulled out of the squad earlier in the day due to what the club described as fatigue.
Andres Iniesta took his place in attack, with Icelander Eidur Gudjohnsen making his first league start this season, in midfield.
But for all their possession Barca lacked a cutting edge and struggled to break down a well-organised Recre until Milito headed the opener from a corner in the 64th minute.
Two minutes later, Xavi's deep cross was laid back into the centre by Thierry Henry for 17-year-old substitute Krkic to score the second.
Recre had only scored once in their previous seven games and were unable to react.
They pulled down Messi for a penalty eight minutes from time, and the Argentina forward calmly slotted it away.