Of all the people in all the world, it had to be him. Nine years they had been trying and failing. Nine bloody years. Hundreds of them in four different countries. Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't do it, Rafa Benítez couldn't do it, Harry Redknapp couldn't do it. João Pereira couldn't do it and Cesare Prandelli couldn't do it. Nor could Claudio Ranieri, Jacques Santini or Roberto Donadoni. Even Kevin Keegan couldn't do it. Quique Sánchez Flores couldn't do it either. And nor could Manuel Pellegrini.

But then again Manuel Pellegrini wasn't tying to do it. Or so he claimed. In total, 107 coaches couldn't do it. Manolo Preciado, on the other hand, could.

He was the first man to do it since António Sousa and only the second ever. Nine years, one month and 10 days later, José Mourinho's mind-blowing record came to an end. Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid had not lost in 150 games under him. He'd not been defeated in a home league game since 23 February 2002, when nine-man Porto lost 3-2 to Beira-Mar. 150 matches, 125 wins and 25 draws, 342 goals scored, 87 conceded. And then his record ends – even if Marca's José Vicente Hernáez overlooked the presence of Ricardo Carvalho, Sami Khedira, Angel di María, Mesut Ozil, Emmanuel Adebayor and Sergio Canales to claim "this should go down as Pellegrini's loss really; it was his team, not Mourinho's". And then he goes and loses 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu to Sporting Gijón.

Yes, to Sporting Gijón! The team that had not won at the Bernabéu in 16 years and went into this weekend's game just three points from the relegation zone. The team whose star signing is Nacho Novo; cannon fodder for Madrid, a mere trámite.

A formality. Lambs to the slaughter, the first step to a perfect weekend: Madrid would beat Sporting and then Barcelona would lose at Villarreal, their hardest match left this season. Suddenly, the gap at the top of the league table would be just two points. ¡Hay liga! as they say: there is a league. Game on.

Game over, more like. It was just about the time that the Bernabéu, bored of whistling and muttering and tutting at a game that was wrist-slittingly dull, started chanting "¡A Segunda oé!" – the Spanish equivalent of "Going down!" – when Sporting scored. A wonderfully slick, precise move down the left, clever dummy included, got a perfect finish from Miguel de las Cuevas. Suddenly the song changed.

From high in the north end where 3,000 Sporting fans were gathered, plus a little pocket down on the west stand with 300 more, a different song sprang up: "¡Adiós a la liga, adiós!" Most agreed. Before the game, Mourinho had insisted that if his side lost another game their title challenge would be over. And lose they did. Madrid launched themselves forward. They launched the ball forward too – mostly aimlessly – but came across Juan Pablo in the Sporting goal, "an orange octopus with a thousand hands", as AS said. They had 13 shots on target to Sporting's one. They had a goal disallowed and a penalty shout turned down after Alberto Lora leant into a cross, arm first. They also had key creative players missing – Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Ronaldo and Marcelo. And yet you could hardly say they were robbed, even if that is exactly what the Madrid press are saying. They couldn't even say they were caught cold on the break – Sporting's goal was an eight-pass move, built from deep, no long-ball fluke.

Saturday's failure was, rather, symptomatic of Madrid's problems. Not least the fact that just being very, very good is not enough to win this title. Mourinho complained that he had little choice but to play more directly in the absence of his most creative players, and yet he still had Ozil, Di María, Adebayor and, later, Gonzalo Higuaín and Canales on the pitch.

Time and again, Madrid launched the diagonal ball, right to left, looking for the head of Adebayor, Marca's match report likening them to Stoke. And time and time again, it was predictable. Madrid are a side largely built to counterattack. As the season has worn on, teams have worked that out: earlier, they attacked Madrid, now they wait for them. And occasionally, riding their luck a little, they get away with it.

Madrid have been beaten by Osasuna and Sporting 1-0, and have drawn with Mallorca, Levante and Deportivo 0-0, as well as drawing 1-1 with Almería. That's 14 dropped points against teams that are all lower than ninth; teams that waited, that in Mourinho's words "defend, defend, defend". It is not easy to break sides down but with Madrid's budget and Madrid's demands, you have to. "There's no defence," moaned mad Madridista Tomás Roncero.

Only there is. It is the attack that is the problem. The attack and the opponent. "If I wanted to draw 0-0, I could have," Mourinho said. Anywhere else, he might have been able to. But not in Spain. As he rightly noted, in this league a 0-0 is a bad result, given the ludicrously high points totals being racked up by Barcelona. Madrid have paid dearly for those points. These three, especially.

Saturday's defeat was nine years in the waiting and had a devastating effect. When the whistle went Mourinho disappeared down the tunnel. Soon there was a knock on Sporting's dressing-room door: as Preciado admiringly revealed, the Portuguese had came in to congratulate them on a huge victory for them. It was a touch of class after all that has happened and after a hugely significant defeat for him. A hugely costly one too. Asked afterwards if there was still a chance of Madrid winning the league, Mourinho noted the mathematical possibility. But, he added: "Objectively, pragmatically, if the distance is extended to eight points later on [tonight], it is virtually impossible."

Four hours later, that was exactly what happened. Víctor Valdés's saves and Gerard Piqué's goal – which looked suspiciously like a handball – gave Barcelona a 1-0 win and an eight-point lead. Eight points plus head-to-head goal difference. With eight games left. Assuming Madrid do not beat Barcelona by 5-0 or more, even if they were to win El cClásico, Madrid would need to win every game and for Barcelona to lose twice – or draw three times — in their final seven matches. Madrid need Barcelona to drop nine points in eight games – the same amount they have dropped in 30 matches so far. No wonder AS lead on "Eight points, a whole world." Marca's headline declared: "Goodbye league, goodbye record." Over in Catalunya, Sport described it as "half a league title in the bag". And all because of Sporting Gijón. Manolo Preciado's Sporting Gijón. The name might ring a bell. Manolo Preciado: the coach with the most fantastic facial foliage known to man, a 40-a-day habit, a potty mouth and a voice so deep floors vibrate.

Mourinho's Moriarty. The man who called Mourinho a "scumbag" and suggested – and amid all the moral outcry about the word he used, this was actually the worst thing he said – that the Madrid manager should be put in among Sporting's ultras. The man who got involved in a furious argument in the Molinón carpark after Madrid had beaten them 1-0. The man, let's not forget, that Mourinho had accused of throwing his match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou, even though they only lost 1-0, the third best result there this season. Who then drew with Barcelona at home – one of only four sides to take points off Pep Guardiola's team all season.

The man who is now the league's most successful manager against the big two, having picked up four points against them; two 1-0 defeats already made his side one of the hardest the big two had faced; four points via a win against Madrid and a draw against Barcelona confirmed it. Six weeks ago, Preciado gave Madrid hope. Now he has snatched it away again.

By beating Mourinho in a home league match for the first time in nine years, despite having six first-teamers missing, including Diego Castro who is easily their best player, and despite playing with a side that included six of those "reserves" who played at the Camp Nou. By doing what 107 coaches could not. It had to be him. "This is not about revenge," Preciado said, but few believed him. As Juanma Trueba put it: "Football is as capricious as a platinum blond and as merciless as the Mafioso that keeps her. Accounts are always settled."

When the final whistle blew, Preciado dashed on to the pitch arms in the air and his players sprayed him with water, as if they had won the league. He was still soaking when he appeared in the press room and declared: "This is the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren." A text message came through from his son telling him his other son and their mother – killed in separate accidents – would have been proud. The result saw Sporting climb to 13th, nine points clear of the bottom and left Barcelona virtually nine points clear at the top.

Nine years later, Mourinho finally lost his record, and the league title with it. Against Manolo Preciado too – the nearest thing he has to a nemesis. The man who back in November warned: "If you spit upwards, it comes down eventually."

Talking points

• You score a goal, you're pleased as punch. But you can't show it. It's hard enough trying not to smile once. Trying not to smile twice is even harder and trying not to smile three times is agony. But four times? Four times is bloody murder. No punch of the fist, no grin, no Wayne Rooney moment with the camera. How is anyone expected to control themselves? Well, Valencia's Roberto Soldado did – with the ultimate act of self-restraint. The former Getafe player promised not to celebrate on his return to the Coliseum. What he never expected was that he would score four times in one night – and four lovely goals too. Four goals that take him to 10 for the season and mean he has scored more at Getafe's ground than the man the club signed to replace him.

• Hércules in winning game shocker! And away from home, too – the first time since they beat Barcelona in week two. Hércules in playing Royston Drenthe shocker as well. Hmm, wonder if the two things are related? After all Drenthe, playing under new manager Miroslav Djukic, did get both. The other was scored by Javier Portillo. Yes, that one.

• No Forlán, no Kun. And Diego Costa goes and gets a hat-trick for Atlético Madrid. Look how good he can be when he is not obsessed by diving. Well, not only obsessed by diving, anyway. There were still a couple of masterful pieces of acting.

• Barcelona's win was not only a huge step towards the title, it was also much needed after a week of cock-ups. First with the president, Sandro Rosell, predicting a 5-0 win over Real Madrid in El Clásico "in order to keep up with what we're used to" and then being forced to apologise for the "offence". Then with the release by Italian channel RAI of Pep Guardiola's comments saying that his time at Barcelona was "coming to an end". Although the comments were similar to things he has said before, this was a step again, a little more definitive than in the past, and the spin and clean operation was comic. First, it didn't happen. Then, it was a lie. Then, those Italians were a bunch of pirates. Then, it was nothing new. The fact that the job has had a huge impact on Guardiola and that he suffers for it is certainly no secret. Asked on Saturday night if he should go to England where he could control more and have more responsibility – where he could be manager, not just coach – he replied: "but I don't want more responsibility! I've already lost my hair and got a bad back."

• Málaga still aren't out of trouble. Levante on the other hand, are. Luis García's team continued their amazing second half of the season – in which they are Spain's third-best club after Madrid and Barça – with a 3-1 win and, having looked dead and buried, are now just four points off the European places. Mind you, they were helped out by some ridiculous 'defending' from Málaga.

• Oh, Espanyol. What have you done. You silly, silly people.

Results: Real Madrid 0-1 Sporting, Getafe 2-4 Valencia, Villarreal 0-1 Barcelona, Real Sociedad 1-3 Hércules, Espanyol 1-2 Racing, Levante 3-1 Málaga, Deportivo 2-1 Mallorca, Sevilla 3-1 Zaragoza, Osasuna 2-3 Atlético

Tonight's is-there-really-a-game?-game: Almería-Athletic

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