The battle for the Spanish league title took two more unexpected twists on Sunday with Madrid rivals Real and Atletico both dropping vital points.
Third-placed Real could only manage a 2-2 draw at home to lively Valencia, after leaders Atletico had gone down 2-0 at mid-table Levante.
Both Madrid teams looked weary after their midweek exertions in reaching the final of the Champions league.
Atletico are three points above Barcelona - whom they visit on the last day - who were held 2-2 by Getafe on Saturday.
Barca, in turn, are two points above Real, who have a game in hand on Wednesday at lowly Valladolid.
Atletico's defeat opened the door for Real but the whites looked even more fatigued than Atletico.
Jeremy Mathieu gave eighth-placed Valencia the lead by heading in a corner just before half-time.
Sergio Ramos - Real's two-goal hero at Bayern Munich on Tuesday - made it 1-1 on the hour with a close range header, but former Real midfielder Dani Parejo quickly restored Valencia's lead by turning in a centre from Sofiane Feghouli.
Two minutes into injury-time, Cristiano Ronaldo made it 2-2 with his 50th goal of the season in all competitions, a clever back heel to a centre from Angel di Maria.
Earlier on, Atletico crashed 2-0 at Levante, their fourth league defeat of the season.
"Levante went ahead very quickly and then defended well. ... Just when we were close to pulling level their second goal came," said Atletico coach Diego Simeone.
Simeone's charges looked weary after Wednesday's Champions League win at Chelsea and failed to create many clear chances.
They fell behind after just eight minutes when left-back Filipe Luis turned a Levante corner into his own net when trying to clear the ball.
David Villa and Diego Costa came close to equalising for the visitors, who looked distinctly short on mental and physical freshness.
David Barral made it 2-0 to Levante in the 70th minute by turning in a clever Victor centre from the left.
Atletico substitute Adrian then hit the post, but Levante had few problems in holding out for the win, which left them in 10th place.
Later on Sunday, fifth-placed Sevilla were held 0-0 by Villarreal, who are ninth.
Earlier on, 10-man Almeria kept alive their hopes of avoiding relegation with a late 3-2 home defeat of bottom team Real Betis on Sunday.
The memorable win left Almeria fourth from bottom, with 36 points from 36 games, the same as Getafe.
