The script had been written: Barcelona had not been beaten for 39 games and, going into Saturday's Clasico, owned a ten-point gap in La Liga over Real Madrid, who were the disjointed mess they have been for the past 18 months.
Yet you still have to go and play the game and the verdict on the night was firmly for Madrid. That's football.
With hindsight being 20-20, you have plenty to sink your teeth into. It was a post-FIFA break Clasico, which was bound to affect Barca more because Claudio Bravo, Luis Suarez, Dani Alves, Lionel Messi and Neymar had all played in South America.