Barcelona suffered a shock 0-1 home loss to Rayo Vallecano to tell Real Madrid they can step up plans for another Spanish LaLiga title party.
This was a third consecutive home loss for the Catalans, only the second time that Barcelona have suffered such a fate in their history.
Alvaro Garcia’s early strike made the difference between the teams.
It means Real Madrid’s lead at the top is 15 points with five games remaining, putting Los Blancos on the brink of being crowned champions.
That will be confirmed if Carlo Ancelotti’s team avoid defeat to Espanyol next Saturday.
Xavi’s FC Barcelona have also slackened their grip on second place with this setback.
Rayo Vallecano, sitting 14th in LaLiga before they arrived at Camp Nou, snatched a seventh-minute lead.
That was when Garcia made a smart run into space to meet a chipped pass from Isi Palazon and fire sharply into the bottom right corner.
Jordi Alba curled a shot which flicked wide off the post as FC Barcelona chased an equaliser. Then Gavi wanted a penalty kick when he slumped to the turf under a nothing challenge from Santiago Comesana.
Referee Isidro Diaz de Mera Escuderos was unimpressed and booked coach Xavi for taking his complaints too far.
A clever floated shot from Gavi hit the crossbar shortly before half-time, and although Ferran Torres lobbed the ball in from the rebound, he had been in an offside position.
Jordi Alba had a shot deflected over as FC Barcelona pushed early in the second half, but the home side were horribly flat.
Memphis Depay and Nico Gonzalez replaced Torres and Frenkie de Jong as Xavi looked to inject some energy.
Depay had a close-range shot blocked by Nikola Maras, and the Dutch striker saw a stinging 20-yard strike punched over the bar by Stole Dimitrievski, but the equaliser would not come.
To some, the result could mean that Barca are on the slide. FC Barcelona had won their last seven home games against Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga and were seeking eight in a row against them for the first time in the competition.
