Barcelona took a giant step towards their third consecutive Spanish Liga title on Saturday with a controversial late 1-0 win at fourth placed Villarreal.Earlier on Saturday, injury-hit Real Madrid were surprisingly beaten 1-0 at home by lowly Sporting Gijon, ending the unbeaten league home
record of Real coach Jose Mourinho after more than nine years.
These results left Barca with a record-breaking 81 points from 30 games, eight more than Real.
Defender Gerard Pique, who scored Barca's winner, said: "This is an important step forward. But there are still eight games left and this is not over yet."
When asked about the reserves fielded by coach Pep Guardiola, Pique said that "whoever plays from this squad keeps us up to the same level, a very high level indeed."
Barca dominated from start to finish in Villarreal, despite the absence of suspended Xavi and despite Lionel Messi's starting the game on the subs' bench.
Even so, Barca keeper Victor Valdes had to make two sharp early saves to keep Guiseppe Rossi at bay.
The only goal came 22 minutes from time, in controversial circumstances. A corner from Andres Iniesta was headed on by Sergio Busquets to Gerard Pique, who controlled the ball with his left arm before making it 1-0 with a fierce close-range drive.
Barca should have scored more goals, but in the end needed a superlative save from Valdes to prevent Santi Cazorla from making it 1-1.
Earlier on Saturday, Real - who had not lost at home for a year - surprisingly crashed 1-0 against Gijon, on a late goal from Miguel de las Cuevas.
De la Cuevas' effort also ended the remarkable run of coach Jose Mourinho who had gone unbeaten for 150 home games at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real since a 3-2 home loss of Porto against Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.
The result will give hope to Tottenham Hotspur, who were due to visit the Estadio Bernabeu on Tuesday in a Champions League quarter-final first leg clash.
Mourinho, somewhat prophetically, said: "If Barcelona win in Villarreal then the league is practically impossible for us ... I don't know how many chances we missed today from close range.
The Portuguese coach added that "luck is part of football, and today our opponents had it."
Before the match there was an emotional homage to former Brazilian forward Ronaldo, who starred for Real from 2002 to 2007. The whites could have done with the Brazilian on the field, so uninspired and toothless were they in attack.
They went into the game without Pepe, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. They had a goal from Ricardo Carvalho disallowed after just two minutes, but then created little danger.
The only goal came 11 minutes from time, when De la Cuevas silenced the Bernabeu by making it 1-0 with a low shot which went in off the post, after good work down the left by Nacho Navo.
Gonzalo Higuain, out for five months with a back injury, came off the bench and almost broke the deadlock on three occasions, Emmanuel Adebayor was foiled by keeper Juan Pablo at the end.
The other big news on Saturday was Valencia's 4-2 win away to troubled Getafe, in which Roberto Soldado scored four goals in an astonishing 31-minute burst.
Soldado, who joined Valencia from Getafe last summer, sunk his former team-mates with four quick-fire goals. Getafe are seventh from bottom but could fall down two more places if Sunday's results go against them.
The romp in Getafe took Valencia up to third, three points above Villarreal.
record of Real coach Jose Mourinho after more than nine years.
These results left Barca with a record-breaking 81 points from 30 games, eight more than Real.
Defender Gerard Pique, who scored Barca's winner, said: "This is an important step forward. But there are still eight games left and this is not over yet."
When asked about the reserves fielded by coach Pep Guardiola, Pique said that "whoever plays from this squad keeps us up to the same level, a very high level indeed."
Barca dominated from start to finish in Villarreal, despite the absence of suspended Xavi and despite Lionel Messi's starting the game on the subs' bench.
Even so, Barca keeper Victor Valdes had to make two sharp early saves to keep Guiseppe Rossi at bay.
The only goal came 22 minutes from time, in controversial circumstances. A corner from Andres Iniesta was headed on by Sergio Busquets to Gerard Pique, who controlled the ball with his left arm before making it 1-0 with a fierce close-range drive.
Barca should have scored more goals, but in the end needed a superlative save from Valdes to prevent Santi Cazorla from making it 1-1.
Earlier on Saturday, Real - who had not lost at home for a year - surprisingly crashed 1-0 against Gijon, on a late goal from Miguel de las Cuevas.
De la Cuevas' effort also ended the remarkable run of coach Jose Mourinho who had gone unbeaten for 150 home games at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real since a 3-2 home loss of Porto against Beira Mar on February 23, 2002.
The result will give hope to Tottenham Hotspur, who were due to visit the Estadio Bernabeu on Tuesday in a Champions League quarter-final first leg clash.
Mourinho, somewhat prophetically, said: "If Barcelona win in Villarreal then the league is practically impossible for us ... I don't know how many chances we missed today from close range.
The Portuguese coach added that "luck is part of football, and today our opponents had it."
Before the match there was an emotional homage to former Brazilian forward Ronaldo, who starred for Real from 2002 to 2007. The whites could have done with the Brazilian on the field, so uninspired and toothless were they in attack.
They went into the game without Pepe, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema. They had a goal from Ricardo Carvalho disallowed after just two minutes, but then created little danger.
The only goal came 11 minutes from time, when De la Cuevas silenced the Bernabeu by making it 1-0 with a low shot which went in off the post, after good work down the left by Nacho Navo.
Gonzalo Higuain, out for five months with a back injury, came off the bench and almost broke the deadlock on three occasions, Emmanuel Adebayor was foiled by keeper Juan Pablo at the end.
The other big news on Saturday was Valencia's 4-2 win away to troubled Getafe, in which Roberto Soldado scored four goals in an astonishing 31-minute burst.
Soldado, who joined Valencia from Getafe last summer, sunk his former team-mates with four quick-fire goals. Getafe are seventh from bottom but could fall down two more places if Sunday's results go against them.
The romp in Getafe took Valencia up to third, three points above Villarreal.
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