His strike, with 10 minutes including injury time left, consigned Real Madrid to a second successive 1-1 draw and the loss of four vital points in the title race. It came just days after a last second strike from Santi Cazorla had meant Real only drew at home to Malaga. If Barcelona keep up their winning streak against Real, they will beat them and go three points behind. That means that one more Real defeat could send the La Liga title back to the Catalans for yet another year.
It would be quite a collapse in a league where Barcelona and Real have made the routine look even more routine. Victory is expected, anything else a shock, when they play other sides in the league. That Real have drawn two in a row is a major surprise, but the momentum now is with Barcelona in this title race.
The Malaga draw was a particular irony; Manuel Pellegrini preventing Jose Mourinho breaking his own record for successive victories at Real. And now a 10 game winning run away from home is over after the draw in Villarreal.
Is Mourinho now cracking up? One of his assistants had been sent from the dugout by the time of Senna’s equaliser, and Mourinho’s subsequent whine saw him sent to the stands. The Portuguese is not enjoying his time in Spain. He has had to deal with a sensation he is not used to. Inferiority. His team just cannot compete with Barcelona when they face each other, and is he now to experience the ultimate indignity? Having already been beaten by the Catalans in the Spanish Cup, they could now be pipped for the title. And who would then bet on Barcelona beating them once more in the final of the Champions League in Munich in May?
In the aftermath of the Senna goal on Wednesday, Sergio Ramos was sent off, as was Mesut Ozil, as Real lost their cool. This is a team rattled. They thought they’d won the league. Barcelona had said they had. Pep Guardiola, not for the first time, seems to be winning the mind games with Mourinho. Last year he launched a tirade before his team’s 5-0 win over Real. Now having said they’ve won the league, Real look to be losing it. Did they crack up at El Madrigal on Wednesday? It seems so. They need to put things back together and fast. The title race everyone thought was over may yet have some legs in it.
