They say a picture tells a thousand words, but not this one.
This one told four.
In the fading Andalusian sun, Cristiano Ronaldo was on his knees, motionless, at one end of the pitch at La Rosaleda. His team-mates were elsewhere, somewhere out of shot. So were the opponents. So were the officials. The coaching staff. The fans. Everyone.
Ronaldo was alone. His shoulders were slumped. He gazed off into the distance.
Like everyone else, he knew.
"Adios to another league," said Marca after a 1-1 draw.
Officially and mathematically, that's not entirely true. But realistically, it probably is.
For weeks, Real Madrid have had little margin for error in the league, but as they travelled south to face Malaga on Sunday, they knew the little that once remained had now disappeared. It had hit zero.
Four days earlier, while Zinedine Zidane's men were far away in Rome, Barcelona had dealt them a heavy blow. At El Molinon on Spain's north coast, the Catalans had met Sporting Gijon in what was the game they'd held in hand since mid-December. As a fixture on its own, as a contest, it was relatively low-key, but the context was massive: Win, and they'd go seven points clear of Madrid; win again versus Las Palmas on Saturday, and they'd go 10 clear.
They did.
And they did.
In this league and against this Barcelona, 10 points is a colossal gap. The scheduling of the weekend's fixtures had also heightened the challenge; playing a day later than your rivals and needing to respond merely to hold your position carries an added and uncomfortable pressure. Away at Granada two weeks earlier, Madrid had managed to escape the same situation.
But not here.
On Sunday at La Rosaleda, Zidane's men were Malaga-ed. If such a term sounds unfamiliar, think of it as similar to getting Atletico-ed.
Having escaped their early season troubles, Malaga are now among the most hostile and least comfortable opponents in La Liga. Under the brilliant Javi Gracia—this is a manager who's lost most of his top-end talent in Samuel, Samu Castillejo, Sergi Darder, Juanmi and Nordin Amrabat in the last two transfer windows, and is thriving anyway—the Andalusians have transformed themselves in recent months.
Malaga are now feisty, disciplined and physical. They press the life out of you. They move the ball quickly. They've got clarity in their purpose and their encompassing idea. In January, they gave Barcelona their most difficult afternoon of the season; in December, they suffocated Atletico.
Now they've added Madrid to the list.
And in some style, too.
With just 55 seconds on the clock on Sunday, the hosts had set the tone. Collecting possession after Nacho had intercepted Duje Cop's ball to Charles, Sergio Ramos played what looked like a simple back pass to goalkeeper Keylor Navas. Nearly every other opponent in La Liga will let you do that, but Malaga don't; Charles stormed into the box to press Navas the instant Ramos played the pass, forcing the Costa Rican to boot the ball into the stands.
From that moment, Malaga never let up.
In the first half alone, Gracia's men should have scored two, possibly even three. Juanpi shot straight at Navas when through on goal. Ricardo Horta found the side netting with a glorious chance. Cop hit the bar after a partial save from Navas.
Each chance was the result of intense and unrelenting pressure, and Malaga were unfortunate to go behind when Ronaldo headed in the opener; he was offside by a yard at least. After the break, Raul Albentosa's equaliser was well-deserved. By day's end, so was the point.
"The result is a consequence of our game," said Gracia rightly afterward.
"[It] tastes like a defeat," said Marcelo.
For Madrid, it essentially was—a knockout one. They're now nine points back from a Barcelona team that hasn't lost a game of any description for more than four months. Effectively, the gap is 10, too, given that Barcelona currently hold a four-goal advantage in the head-to-head with Madrid, meaning that—barring an extraordinary turnaround in the season's second Clasico—tying the Catalans on points wouldn't be enough for Zidane and Co.
In all probability, another league title has slipped away. And "another" is the key word here.
Should Barcelona do what is now expected and go on to claim this season's crown, Madrid's eternal rivals will have won six of the last eight league titles in Spain. Extend it out a little further, and it will be eight of the last 12.
For the men from the capital, the record is becoming dire. By May, eight years will have yielded one title despite Madrid's financial dominance over all of Europe. That number won't change for the most recent 10 years of Florentino's Perez two-part presidency, either.
The current recipe is not working. On Sunday, Madrid watched another league title slip away, but not because of Sunday. Instead, it has slipped away because, in another season, in another hunt for silverware, in another war with Barcelona, Madrid have produced another exhibition of how to get in your own way.
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