Barcelona giving Real Madrid is kind of strange because Barcelona looked so strong while Real Madrid is still not looking strong, but they somehow collect their points along the way. They are not playing the best and most attractive football, but in contrast to Barcelona they are winning their games, which is what's important in the end.
Ancelotti has been very good during bad times when his team didn't play their best, but yet successfully. This is something I believe Barcelona has to add to their portfolio so to say. Barcelona can either play beautiful football and win big time, or they play bad and lose. Real Madrid instead knows very well how to play bad and win and this can make the difference at the end of the season.
True, Barcelona are playing well, they attack quite a lot, but they have started to score less, and Real are completely focused on the result, the main thing for them is to get points in every match and after it seemed that Barcelona's advantage was too big to change anything, Real showed how they can fix everything. Now everything is in Real's hands, because they have a game in hand, but their next game will be away from home against Athletic Bilbao, it will not be an easy match, in which they also need to get 3 points.
Barcelona start of the season was above all to win the trophy but now the situation is a little doubtful because the points difference with Madrid is a pressure for all Barcelona players especially Hansi Flick. Barcelona journey cycle seems to be repeating itself and there is great motivation on Madrid side to start their journey if they are able to continue to consistently win 3 points.