For Real Madrid and Barcelona, draws are the new defeats and draws like this are the new disasters. For everyone else, draws are the new victories and draws like this are the new cup wins. No one expects to beat Madrid and Barcelona – between them they have lost only 10 of their past 181 games against the rest of the league over the past three seasons and Barcelona have lost four of their past 93 league games – so a draw will do. For Espanyol, a draw like this will do nicely: an intense, breathless derby, a packed house, an 86th-minute equaliser scored by the 20-year-old Catalan who turned them down, a 90th-minute shot smashing against the bar, a penalty appeal ignored, and a 1-1 scoreline that could cost their city rivals the title. Rather like the 2-2 scoreline against the same rivals that cost them the title last time four and half years ago.

Sequels are never as good, but for Espanyol this still wasn't bad. Back in 2007, 18 preposterous seconds changed the destiny of the title. A late, late Raúl Tamudo goal in the Catalan derby at the Camp Nou and only fractionally less late Ruud Van Nistelrooy goal against Real Zaragoza saw Barcelona surrender the title to Real Madrid. On Sunday night, a not quite so late goal from Alvaro Vázquez was greeted as if it had seen Barcelona surrender the title to Madrid again – for the first time since then.

When the whistle went, the roar inside Cornellá-El Prat was huge. Six hundred kilometres away in Madrid, the roar was even greater. As for Barcelona, Pedro described it as "big blow"; the result had left a "bad taste". Madrid climbed to five points clear, prompting AS, imaginative as ever, to lead on "Five points!"

Created as a conscious rejection of Barcelona – not, as is often assumed, of Barça's Catalanism but of their foreignness, founded by Hans Gamper, who was Swiss, and full of British ex-pats – Espanyol's identity has shifted over the past century. So, even, has their name. From the consciously Spanish club they became, rejecting the growing identification of Barcelona with Catalanism, to their recent reinvention, staking their own claim to being Catalan, there has been a constant: they don't like Barça. Just as Barcelona's narrative evokes their status as a kind of resistance to the state, so now does Espanyol's – only this time the "state" is the Catalan one. Barcelona is more than a club; so too, as the banner at Cornellá pointedly put it on Sunday night, "is Catalunya".

It was not the only banner. There was "Qatar is not Catalonia" and another that "illustrated" the Barça slogan "the value of having values" by invoking Iñaki Urdangarín, the husband of the Spanish Infanta and former Barça handball player being investigated for alleged corruption. Barcelona's dominance annoys; defeating them delights. This was a draw but it was still, ran one paper, David slaying Goliath. For Espanyol fans, the hint of injustice made it more fun while the performance made it more rewarding. Seydou Keita came on to help Barcelona resist; a minute later they succumbed, Alvaro's header making it 1-1. Then in the 92nd minute, Gerard Piqué smashed a shot against the bar. The rebound fell to Pedro, whose shot was blocked by Raúl Rodríguez.

"Yes, it was a handball," Rodríguez said, "there's no point in saying otherwise." Piqué shrugged: "Maybe the ref didn't see it – there were lots of bodies in the area." "We'll get over it," insisted Pep Guardiola, "we can't focus on that." The Catalan media was a different story. Sport's cover screamed: "a penalty the size of a house". Inside, it insisted that the referee Turienzo Alvarez had "swallowed a penalty", while the back page cartoon showed Espanyol's lineup from the game: "a couple of strikers, a few midfielders, a fair few defenders, two goalkeepers and Turienzo". As for El Mundo Deportivo, they complained of a "black hand", adding: "they won't let Barcelona win". Other decisions were recalled: penalties turned down in Valencia, where Barcelona drew, and a wrongly blown offside in Getafe, where they lost.

Not that anyone could claim that Espanyol did not deserve it. The only team to beat Barcelona in 2009-10 and the side who held them to a draw in their first derby at the new stadium the following season, Espanyol were already the club that had denied Barcelona the most points since Guardiola was in charge, with 14. On Sunday night they took that total to 16 playing with intensity and aggression, pushing Barcelona back, pressuring the back three and filling midfield to prevent them from having an easy exit from deep. "You have to give them credit; they made it very hard for us to come out with the ball," said Dani Alves. "We obliged them to go wide," added Romaric.

Espanyol were swift and aggressive, and but for Víctor Valdés might have found the breakthrough sooner. They had 14 shots to Barcelona's 10. And it is not just about Barcelona either: the youngest squad in the league, always forced to sell their best players – this summer it was Pablo Osvaldo – the work their coach, Mauricio Pochettino, has done in difficult circumstances is extraordinary. Espanyol stand a solitary point off a European place.

Barça, meanwhile, stand five off the top. The final whistle had barely gone when the Barcelona president, Sandro Rosell, rolled his eyes. "We'll have to listen to them talking about the fin de ciclo [end of an era] now," he said. "You'll see." And see we did. Marca's cover hailed a "whiter league".

Yet you could see their point. When the first fin de ciclo was infamously floated a couple of years ago, it was wishful thinking. Barcelona carried on winning. This is different, at least as far as the title is concerned. Asked if the title race had swung decisively Madrid's way, Guardiola responded simply: "no creo" [I don't think so]. "There is," he added, "a long way to go." He was right but five points is a big gap in a league where both teams have racked up over 90 points for the past two seasons, where draws are the new defeats. Where victory is an obligation.

Barcelona have already drawn five and lost one this season; they drew six and lost two in the whole of last season. They may have lost only once, but they have won just three times away from home – four draws have cost them eight points and first place; a late penalty miss cost them two more at the Camp Nou. Clásicos apart, Madrid lost to Zaragoza and Sporting last season but they also lost the league because of draws at Levante, Deportivo, Almería and Mallorca. Lesson learnt, variety added, gap widened to the rest, it is hard to imagine that happening this season: they lost and drew in the space of barely a few days in the autumn. It does not look like being repeated. Not including the clásico, Madrid have won 12 in a row. Pulling back five points is going to be a difficult task for Barça not least because it does not depend on them now.

Barcelona may defeat Madrid in the next clásico – Guardiola has won four of five in the league – but they are also faced with a problem: Madrid may not be as good as Barça but they may not have to be. The league title is no longer in Barcelona's hands. Espanyol snatched it out of them again.

Talking points

• Christmas: time of good will? Aye, right. Three coaches were sacked over the Christmas break – Gregorio Manzano at Atlético, Javier Aguirre at Zaragoza and Juan Carlos Garrido at Villarreal. In the first two cases at the least (and probably in the third as well), the clubs will surely find that while the coach may have been a problem he was not the problem. Huge debt, institutional crisis and presidential incompetence, on the other hand … Atlético drew their first game under Cholo Simeone 0-0, Zaragoza were beaten again under Manolo Jiménez and Villarreal got a 2-2 draw with Valencia under José Molina. New manager, guaranteed victory?

One of the first things Simeone had to do was deal with José Antonio Reyes, who told him of his desire to return to Sevilla. Not that anyone at the Calderón really minded. Simeone promised an aggressive, tough and counterattacking side. Atlético promised … well, let's face it, it doesn't really matter what they promised. Now, they're looking for another defensive midfielder. Because that's just what they need.

• This weekend only one of the top 10 won – Real Madrid. No one wants to take the fourth place, which looks set to be one of the cheapest Champions League slots there's been.

• Every time the ball went near Dani Alves the monkey chants went up – very loud and very clear. The Barcelona director Toni Freixa called them lamentable but, sadly, most people did not call them anything at all.

• Cristiano Ronaldo scored Madrid's fifth and did not celebrate. Whistled during parts of the game, struggling to get his goal, and still apparently a little frustrated at the lack of support from supporters, he does not look happy. The fallout from the clásico is still being felt. In a not at all remote-controlled-move, Monday morning's Madrid papers appealed for the fans to get behind him, insisting: "Ronaldo asks for cariño [affection]".

Results: Real Madrid 5-1 Granada, Malaga 0-0 Atlético, Racing 1-0 Zaragoza, Real Sociedad 0-0 Osasuna, Levante 0-0 Mallorca, Rayo 2-1 Sevilla, Getafe 0-0 Athletic, Villarreal 2-2 Valencia, Betis 2-0 Sporting, Espanyol 1-1 Barcelona.