Sergio Aguero scored a dramatic late winner as Atletico Madrid twice came from behind to stun visiting Barcelona 4-3 on Sunday and extend the Primera Liga leaders' miserable run of form.
Real Madrid's 2-0 win at Espanyol on Saturday, their 10th straight victory, had upped the pressure on Barca, who have now taken only one point from their last three matches and had their advantage over the champions whittled down to four points.
Atletico started brightly but fell behind to a superb Thierry Henry goal on 19 minutes. The ball fell kindly to the French international just outside the penalty area and he curled a superb shot over Leo Franco into the top right corner.
Lionel Messi left the Atletico defence trailing and finished clinically to double Barca's advantage 12 minutes later before Diego Forlan lashed a shot from long range that flew over Victor Valdes into the net to pull one back.
A mistake by Barca defender Rafael Marquez let Aguero in to equalise early in the second half but the home side fell behind again when Eidur Gudjohnsen raced clear and squared for Henry to score his second on 72 minutes.
Forlan scored from the penalty spot with 10 minutes left after Henry was adjudged to have fouled Florent Sinama Pongolle and Aguero burst through a Carles Puyol tackle and side-footed past Valdes for the winner on 89 minutes.
Guardiola congratulated Atletico and said their direct style of play had caused his players problems.
"We'll pick ourselves up, try to correct what is going wrong and carry on working," the former Barca midfielder said at a news conference. "I have a great deal of faith in my players."
In other matches on Sunday, Valencia's poor run of form continued and Unai Emery's side were whistled by their disgruntled home supporters as they dropped to sixth behind Atletico on goal difference.
Jonathan Sesma opened the scoring with a powerful header after six minutes, Luis Cesar Sanchez deflected a cross onto Raul Albiol and into the net for an own goal just after the half hour and Carlos Marchena pulled one back with 16 minutes left.
Villarreal just managed to hold on for the draw after going 2-0 ahead thanks to goals from Spain winger Santi Cazorla and stay in fourth, five points behind third-placed Sevilla.
Sergio Garcia began the Betis fightback with a superbly take goal in the 42nd minute and Ricardo Oliveira equalised just before the hour.
Ten-man Malaga slipped one place to seventh while Recre's first victory in five matches lifted them to 13th.
Defender Lolo was shown a straight red card just after the half hour when he caught Jesus Vazquez with his arm. Javier Camunas found the bottom left corner with a drive on 55 minutes and Adrian Colunga struck 10 minutes later to seal the win.
Bottom-club Numancia's woes continued as Juan Rodriguez scored the winner with 15 minutes left as the Galicians cemented their hold on eighth place in the standings.
Angel Lafita powered through the centre and released Rodriguez on the right and the midfielder sent an angled shot into the net past Juan Pablo Colinas.
Osasuna came back from a goal down to extend their unbeaten run to six, although they slipped back into the relegation zone thanks to Real Mallorca's win at Sporting Gijon.
Osasuna goalkeeper Roberto Fernandez could only deflect a powerful drive from striker Oscar Serrano into the net after 13 minutes and Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani equalised with a powerful header in first-half added time.
Mallorca took the points thanks to Juan Arango's superb curled freekick from long range early in the second period and the islanders moved out of the relegation places into 16th.
Alvaro Negredo scored twice to help the home side battle back from a goal down as Almeria moved up two spots to 11th.
Ecuador midfielder Joffre Guerron was on hand on eight minutes to tap in after the ball bounced down off the crossbar. Negredo levelled five minutes later when he turned in a low cross from the left and grabbed the winner with 25 minutes left with a deflected shot.
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