Imanol Agirretxe capped a fine comeback as Real Sociedad de Fútbol recovered from two goals down to beat ten-man FC Barcelona 3-2 and inflict the leaders' first Liga defeat of season.

A comfortable night seemed in the offing for the Blaugrana when Lionel Messi, with his 29th league goal of the campaign, and Pedro Rodriguez put Barça two to the good inside 25 minutes.

However, Gonzalo Castro (41) halved the deficit with a shot across Víctor Valdés and when Gerard Piqué (56) was dismissed for a second bookable offence, a trip on Carlos Vela, the hosts scented an opportunity to record a famous win.

The Basque side levelled six minutes later through Castro, whose shot took a sizeable deflection off Javier Mascherano. In added time, substitute Agirretxe provided the icing on the cake, stealing in to convert Carlos Martínez's cross after the defender had engineered space on the right.

Barcelona's first top-flight loss in 24 matches, a run stretching back to 21 April, means Club Atlético de Madrid can trim their lead to nine points on Sunday by overcoming Levante UD. Elsewhere, Granada CF edged clear of trouble following a 2-0 defeat of Rayo Vallecano de Madrid and the Getafe CF-Sevilla FC and Málaga CF-RC Celta de Vigo games ended 1-1.