This weekend, Barcelona slumped to a third successive home defeat at Camp Nou for the first time ever in a single season, with some of the spotlight landing on a player who wasn't even on the pitch.
Xavi's side fell behind after just seven minutes against mid-table Rayo Vallecano, yet were unable to claw back any ground in the 83 minutes of fruitless toil that followed, leaving LaLiga rivals Real Madrid needing to accrue just one more point from their final five games of the season to clinch the title.