Indeed, there was an opportunity for Real Madrid to catch up on points, but they could not take advantage of it properly and Barcelona returned to momentum to continue their winning trend. The two teams now each have their own focus on the competition they are considered capable of achieving so far and that's pretty good considering that the competition between the two is now at the right point.
The defeat from the El Clasico match was the toughest thing for Real Madrid because the point difference was getting farther from Barcelona. In addition, there are several other important things that have made them appear inconsistent this season, namely the hurricane of injuries that often hit Benzema which makes the squad not too strong, even Real Madrid had to lose full points several times against low-ranked teams.
but if barcelona loses points in the next 3 matches, even though that is impossible to happen, of course it will be a second chance for real madrid to reduce the point difference from barcelona. anything can still happen in the standings table because this season they still have 12 matches left.