Santiago Solari's Real Madrid side had been building up nicely towards the league clash with rivals Barça in March, but a surprise loss changed things.
Real Madrid's surprise home defeat on Sunday against Girona will ensure that when Barcelona leave the Santiago Bernabéu on 2 March, they will still sit atop LaLiga Santander.
Barça take comfort in cushion
That loss, coupled with Barça's scruffy win the evening before, means that Ernesto Valverde's side are mathematically certain of top spot post El Clásico, no matter what happends in the next two matchdays.
The current cushion of the Blaugrana is seven points from Atlético and nine from Madrid, giving them a certain comfort going into the following league games. So much so that they could afford to lose to Sevilla in the Sánchez Pizjuán and then lose against Santiago Solari's side and would not lose their lead. In that worst case scenario, Barcelona would be one point ahead of Atlético and three above Real Madrid, assuming their closest rivals won. Los Blancos travel to Levante next while their city rivals play Villareal at the Wanda Metropolitano before facing Real Sociedad. (There's the small matter of Copa Clásico semi-final second leg to deal with too).
With results for LaLiga big three far from certain this season, there are signs that several more points will be dropped by them as we head towards the campaign's end. Just how they fall will determine if the title race is going to go down to the wire.