After one of the most gripping night’s in La Liga’s history, Barcelona woke up this morning still unable to believe the cruel twist suffered last night in the space of 20 seconds. In the 88th minute the title was all but in Barça’s hands, Barça were leading 2-1 in their local derby game with Espanyol while Madrid were losing 2-1 against Zaragoza in La Romareda. Ruud van Nistlerooy then equalised for Madrid and moments later Raúl Tamudo did the same for Espanyol leaving Camp Nou stunned and Barça’s title hopes in tatters.

What seems clear is that Barça have lacked a ruthless edge this season; too often they have failed to finish teams off when they were there for the taking, and the lack of tension which has allowed both Betis and Espanyol to nick last minute equalizers is a major cause of concern. Looking at teams that do possess this ruthlessness one thinks of Milan, Chelsea, the Italian World Cup team, and in recent weeks Real Madrid. These are teams that are much more likely to score a last minute goal than to concede one, however, none of them are pretty to watch. In Rijkaard’s first three years, Barça managed to combine exciting attacking fast-flowing football with a steeliness and a tremendous desire to win. This season too many players have looked tired, not so much physically as mentally, and they have lacked concentration in vital moments. It is easy to blame the number of games they have to play, the World Cup, the pre-season tours and December’s Club World Cup in Japan. While this may be a factor the most important aspect that has been lacking this season is hunger for success. One has to wonder whether Laporta, Txiki and Rijkaard are responsible for not acting sooner to change this.

Having said this, Barça still go into the final week of the league with options to win it. They are level on points with Madrid but are second in the table due to the head-to-head goal difference. If Espanyol can get a draw at Camp Nou, who is to say that Mallorca cannot do the same in the Bernabéu? The players need to pick themselves up and get on with the job of beating Nástic in Tarragona next Sunday. The rest of us will have to pray that Madrid slip up at the finishing post. Stranger things have happened before.