Jose Mourinho's nightmare week went from bad to worse on Saturday as Real Madrid side all but conceded the title race to Barcelona with a 3-2 home defeat to strugglers Real Zaragoza. Still reeling from their 2-0 home loss to Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final first leg three days ago, Real suffered another setback at the Santiago Bernabeu.
The shock defeat means Barcelona need just four points from their remaining five games to retain the league title. Barcelona are in action at Real Sociedad later Saturday knowing a win would move them one point away from securing a third consecutive league crown.
A brace from Angel Lafita, with the first due to a rare howler from goalkeeper Iker Casillas, and a penalty from Gabriel Arenas helped down Madrid, who were reduced to 10 men late on with Ricardo Carvalho sent off for two yellow cards.
Sergio Ramos (62 min) and Karim Benzema (85) pulled goals back for the hosts, but Zaragoza held on to inflict a second league home defeat of the season on Real, who had also lost 1-0 to Sporting Gijon, and move them four points clear of the relegation zone. Mourinho had taken up all the column inches in the Spanish media after accusing Barcelona of receiving favouritism from referees following their 2-0 Champions League win at the Bernabeu, but on the pitch his side talked little.
The Portuguese must now motivate his troops for Wednesday's semi-final return leg at Camp Nou with his side needing to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit to reach the Wembley final. "We can practically say goodbye to the miracle of trying to win the league," said Casillas. "Everything was more complicated because of my mistake but we are all human and make mistakes.
Real left out top-scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcelo and Angel di Maria with the Barcelona return leg in mind, but still boasted Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain, Pepe and Ramos with the latter two suspended for the European duel. Kaka, an unused substitute in the Barcelona defeat, had Madrid's first opening on 18 minutes firing a right-footed drive just wide.
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