Barcelona captain Sergi Roberto scored twice as the Catalan club held off bottom club Almeria to earn three crucial points in the La Liga title battle.
The result moves Barcelona into third place in the league, six points behind leaders Girona and four points behind second-placed Real Madrid, both of whom have a game in hand.
Raphinha and Roberto scored twice to put the hosts ahead, only for Leo Baptistao and Edgar Gonzalez to equalize.
However, Roberto’s late effort put a stop to their three-game losing streak.
Xavi’s team will now travel to Dallas for a friendly against Mexican side Club America before embarking on their winter break, with their next match taking place in Las Palmas on January 4th.
In reality, they might and should have won by a greater margin against a tenacious Almeria team that rode their luck and benefited significantly from some hesitancy and poor play in the Barcelona defense.
Ronald Araujo played Leo Baptistao onside to equalize after Raphinha had scored from close range to give the hosts a first-half lead.
On the hour mark, Roberto’s header was cancelled out after an error by stand-in goalkeeper Inaki Pena allowed Gonzalez to tap in.
Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski, who has now scored three goals in 14 games across all competitions, also had numerous decent scoring chances.
As Barcelona sought victory, Ilkay Gundogan headed wide from two yards before Roberto came to the rescue, putting his effort past visiting goalkeeper Luis Maximiano after a superb feed from the Poland striker.