Barcelona crashed to a humiliating 5-1 defeat at Malaga in a Primera Liga match that featured a brilliantly taken hat-trick from striker Salva Ballesta tonight.
The former Valencia player finished off two slick counter-attacks to score twice in the first 15 minutes and helped himself to his third midway through the second with a delicate chipped finish. He left the pitch to a standing ovation five minutes later, but his replacement Diego Alonso then compounded
Barcelona 's misery by scoring with his first touch to put Malaga 4-0 up.
The Catalans have now taken just one point from their last three games, a miserable run that has coincided with the injury to their Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho.
Deportivo Coruna failed to take their chance to go top of the table when they were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by in-form Valladolid, but modest Osasuna continued their strong start to the season with a 1-0 win away to bottom club Espanyol.
Valencia, who drew 0-0 at Real Sociedad on Tuesday, lead the table on 28 points, one ahead of champions Real Madrid who can regain top spot if they beat neighbours Atletico in the city derby later tonight.
pulled one back when defender Fernando Sanz put through his own net on 80 minutes, but Malaga restored their four-goal cushion when Manuel Canabal cracked in three minutes from time.