A goal from Mallorca’s Varela had Barça dreaming once again of an impossible league title for more than an hour, but in the end it wasn’t to be. Mallorca lead 0-1 from the 17th minute but Madrid responded with three goals in the last 25 minutes. Barça dealt with Nástic comfortably but it was to count for nothing as news came through from the Bernabéu of Madrid’s comeback.

Barça had few problems from Nástic and could have gone ahead early on through a chance for Samuel Eto’o that went just over. News of Varela’s goal for Mallorca gave Barça hope and they responded quickly. First Puyol turned in Messi’s centre to make it 0-1 in Tarragona. On 34 minutes, Messi made it 0-2 after cutting in from the right to unleash a low left foot drive into the far corner. When Ronaldinho made it 0-3 from a direct free-kick a couple of minutes later, all attention turned to what was happening in Madrid. At half-time Mallorca still held their slender lead giving Barça fans the hope that the miracle was possible. The second half went extremely slowly. Messi scored Barça’s fourth after 50 minutes but it wasn’t important, all that mattered now was would Madrid steal it from us at the end. It wasn’t until the 68th minute that Madrid finally equalized through Reyes. Barça fans began to see their hopes and dreams fade. It now seemed impossible that Mallorca could hold on. In the 79th minute Madrid got the goal that they needed from Diarra, and Reyes scored his second of the game after 83 minutes to add the final nail to Barça’s coffin. Late goals from Grahn for Nástic and Zambrotta for Barça counted for nothing.

Barça will have to take a long hard look at themselves over the next couple of weeks, and without panicking will have to start thinking about the necessary changes that need to be made if they are going to return to their winning ways again next season.

For what it is worth here are today’s marks out of ten:

Valdés………………6.5

Zambrotta……… 6.5

Puyol………………..7

Thuram …………..6.5

(Oleguer, 72′)……..6

Gio…………………….7

Iniesta………………6.5

Deco…………………..6

(Motta, 71′)…………6

Xavi…………………..7

Messi…………………..7.5

(Ezquerro, 81′)…….–

Eto’o…………………….7

Ronaldinho…………7.5