Neymar was sent-off as Barcelona lost further ground on Real Madrid at the top of La Liga in a shock 2-0 defeat to Malaga on Saturday.

Real are now three points clear and have a game in hand despite Antoine Griezmann's strike five minutes from time snatching a 1-1 draw for Atletico Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

However, Real can now afford to lose to Barca at home in two weeks' time and still have a first title in five years in their own hands.

"No matter what the table is like Madrid-Barca is always an attractive game, but winning La Liga depends on winning all the points beforehand," said Barca boss Luis Enrique. "Today we had a very good opportunity and we couldn't take the points."

Neymar picked up the first red card of his Barcelona career for two bookable offences as the Catalans were left to rue letting Sandro Ramirez join Malaga for free last summer.

The Brazilian was booked in the first-half for delaying a Malaga free-kick by tying his shoelaces in front of the ball and then charged into Roberto Rosales 25 minutes from time to see his second yellow card, prompting Enrique to claim that his star names lack protection from referees.

"I think the interpretation of the yellow cards is special," said Enrique. "We have to have be very careful in some games because there were some ugly challenges from behind that went unpunished and tying boots was."

“They scored with their first chance thanks to our mistakes in interpreting the offside," added Enrique. "From then on it was an uphill struggle."

Sandro exposed some awful defending from Jeremy Mathieu to sprint clear on goal and slot past Marc-Andre ter Stegen at his near post.

Malaga finally picked off the 10 men in the final minute when Pablo Fornals unselfishly squared for Jony to smash home from close range.