Real Madrid's hopes of catching Barcelona are fast fading after Sporting
Gijon scored a late winner at the Bernabeau in Spain's Primera
Division.

Miguel De las Cuevas’s 79th minute winner ended Mourinho's remarkable nine-year unbeaten home league record on Saturday.

The last time Mourinho failed to take points at his home ground was when FC Porto lost to Beira Mar 3-2 back in February 2002.

"We have lost a large part of the league,'' said Madrid defender Sergio Ramos.

"Being realistic, there are very few points left.''

Tense moments

In a tense game at the Bernabeau, Ricardo Carvalho had a goal disallowed
two minutes into the match when the referee ruled that the ball had
gone over the byline.

Sporting quickly settled down in defence and succeeded in frustrating
the repeated incursion of Angel Di Maria down the left flank.
Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain returned to the pitch for the first time
since injuring his back last November as a substitute for Esteban
Granero in the 57th, and three minutes later tested Colinas with a hard
strike inside the area.

But Madrid failed to react and De las Cuevas did not waste his chance to silence the Bernabeu crowd in the 79th minute.

A downbeat Mourinho admitted after the match that Real’s title hopes now look slim:

"Mathematics say the league is not lost but objectively speaking if the
gap goes from five to eight points we can say that it's almost
impossible," Mourinho told a news conference.

The Special One will hope to get back to his winning ways at home with
Tottenham visiting for the quarterfinals of the European Champions
League on Tuesday.