Jose Mourinho suffered his first home defeat as a coach since
February 23, 2002 with FC Porto, when Real Madrid
fell 1-0 to
Sporting Gijon thanks to Miguel de las Cuevas'
strike.
Cuevas, a former Atletico Madrid player, netted the only goal of
the game in the 79th minute after he broke free on the edge of the
area and fired in a right footed shot off the post.
The defeat means Madrid find themselves eight points adrift of
Barcelona after the league leaders beat Villarreal, and is a blow
to morale ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first
leg against Tottenham.
Even the return of Gonzalo Higuain after more than four months
out through injury could not help Madrid, who badly missed key
players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Xabi
Alonso.
Mourinho, who conceded that eight points was ''practically
impossible'' to overcome, said after the game: ''Our opponents
defended, defended and defended. They had one chance and they
scored one goal. I praised them because they fought a lot and they
fought to try to have luck on their side. We had four, five, six
chances to score and we couldn't. That's football and tomorrow's
another day.
''We played without the team's most creative players. We lacked
creativity. We had to try a different style, more direct with long
balls in the air, and we had more opportunities.
''If I had wanted to draw the game 0-0 from the start I would
have done so. But a draw was a bad result. Against Tottenham on
Tuesday, it won't be. If we draw at home, it would not be a drama
because we will have the return to play in London.''
Madrid defender Sergio Ramos added in AS: ''A large
part of the league has gone away from us. There are very few points
left. We can't reproach the team for anything. Unfortunately the
ball did not go in today. It's very sad to lose with so many
chances.''
Barcelona were made to work for their win, but
they picked up a vital three points with a
1-0 victory at high-flying Villarreal.
Goalkeeper Victor Valdes was tested early on, making some
crucial saves, and the Spanish champions were forced to bring
Lionel Messi on from the bench after the break. They eventually
made the breakthrough from a set-piece as Sergio Busquets' flick-on
fell to Gerard Pique in the box and the Spanish defender calmly
chested the ball down before hammering it into the net for his
second goal of the season.
Villarreal almost snatched a point in the 85th minute, but Santi
Cazorla's volley was somehow turned over the bar by Valdes from six
yards out.
In the day's other game, Roberto Soldado scored all four goals
as Valencia came from 1-0 down to claim an emphatic
4-2 victory at Getafe as they further
continued their hunt for an automatic Champions League spot.
Manu gave Getafe a 13th-minute lead and there was little sign of
what was to come before Soldado levelled just after half-time. It
heralded a spell of four goals in 31 minutes and although Adrian
Sardinero grabbed a late consolation, it was Soldado's night.
