One down, two to go? Levante Unión Deportiva went from “Yes, we can!” to “No we can’t” in 154 seconds, the hope they clung to finally slipping through their fingers. “The cruellest day,” their manager called it. Leading 2-0 against Athletic Bilbao, a scoreline that gave life, momentarily drawing them level with Getafe and to within a point from Sporting Gijón, two from Granada and four from Rayo Vallecano, the league’s bottom-placed side were three weeks from the end of the season and just three minutes from a shot at salvation, but it turned out to be too far. The first blow arrived on 87.47, the second on 90.21: from 2-0 up to 2-2, Markel Susaeta and Mikel San José slipping in the knife to make relegation a virtual reality.

“I won’t say it is over,” said the manager, Joan Rubi, but he knows it probably is. Before this match he had insisted that three points would give them a chance; one almost certainly doesn’t. “Sí, se puede!” the chant has run; yes, we can! But they had started to doubt that and, victory denied, with three games remaining Levante are now three points adrift and four points from survival. More if Granada get a result on Monday night. A banner at one end of the ground said: “We’re the 12th man, where are the other 11?” Sadly, the answer was probably: heading back to the Second Division, six years later. “Desolation, pain, anger, incredulity, sadness, impotence …” one article opened in the local media. And that was before this.

It happened so quick and yet somehow it had been coming too, a slow death sealed suddenly. Not just over the last few months, weeks, or even days, a 5-1 hammering in Granada on Thursday night taking them to the edge, but on Sunday morning too. There are still three weeks left, but that just feels like a wait for the inevitable now. They really do need a miracle. This was a game that they had to win, after all. “Life or death,” one headline said; “win and we’ll be in the fight,” they had claimed. They were winning, too: Víctor Casadesús got the first after quarter of an hour and an Etxeita own goal 20 minutes from time meant they were close now. But as the final minutes ticked away at the Ciutat de Valencia their heads had gone: shattered, struggling for breath, just wanting it over.

They watched the clock as if pleading with it to move but it seemed to be going backwards and so did they; get any deeper and they’d have been in the stands behind the goal with their fans, nervously gnawing at their nails. Every time they kicked the ball away, it came back again. Every time they had it, they lost it. Every time they looked up, Athletic were coming at them. And not really because Athletic were doing much; more because Levante could no longer resist. Even conceding the first made no difference, it just increased their fear; from Levante’s kick-off, Athletic were back again. It was all they could do to stand. Exhausted, they could take no more, but they were close; cramp climbed calves and players were going down, but at least the team wasn’t. Not yet.

And then it did. Susaeta had squeezed in the first, before San José turned in a sharp finish. Two and a half minutes had ended everything, or so it goes. “Levante are clinically dead; all that’s left now is to confirm the time and date of their passing,” wrote AS. Juanfran, the 40-year old club captain who had warned his coach that he was such a Levante fan that there would be tears, looked a broken man. José Morales’s eyes were glazed. “It’s impossible to explain; 88 minutes working, defending three points to keep us in the fight, and yet here we are, screwed. The fans don’t deserve this; they don’t deserve to suffer like this. There are now words to explain it,” he said. “What happened in the last five minutes can only be explained by the fact that we were so tired that the oxygen doesn’t reach the brain,” Rubi said.

“It has not been our year in any sense,” he added. Rubi is their second manager of the season, a talented, methodical and innovative coach, but he too has been burnt by this, some accusing him of wanting to play too well for a team in trouble. There are those who think he should have been sacked before and he may well be sacked soon, and he may not be the only one; heads will probably roll, the search for someone to blame having long since started. Yet Levante knew that they would face a struggle for survival from the start and Rubi arrived knowing this was a difficult task, aware of the limitations he had. Of the squad that started the season, only four of them cost anything at all. Yes, there was optimism when he came to replace Lucas Alcaraz, a belief that they could get out of it; but there was also realism.

At home, Levante’s results have been reasonably good; they have lost just two of their last nine, and those were against Barcelona and Madrid, when they perhaps deserved more. Away, though, away, they are desperate, the worst in the division: their last win was against Sporting, back in November last year. Giuseppe Rossi has offered hope since arriving on loan, a level above the rest, but he is returning from a terrible knee injury; José Morales is talented but leaves team-mates exposed; watching Deyverson can be as infuriating as it is fun; there always seems to be something missing in defence, a touch of speed or aggressiveness; and the seemingly inevitable, and rather facile, accusations have emerged about nights out and players’ attitudes.

There is no optimism now, even though it is not quite over and even though emotions change by the minute. And if Levante do go down, nor is there any certainty over who will go with them although it now seems likely to be two from Getafe, Sporting, Granada or Rayo. Seven teams can still mathematically be relegated still, from Deportivo on 39 points through Espanyol on 37 to Rayo on 35, Granada on 33, Sporting and Getafe on 32 and Levante on 29, and there are three games to go, including some direct clashes.

Deportivo: Getafe (H), Villarreal (A), Real Madrid (H)

Espanyol: Sevilla (H), Barcelona (A), Eibar (H)

Rayo: Atlético (A), Real Sociedad (A), Levante (H)

Granada: Celta (A), Las Palmas (H), Sevilla (A), Barcelona (H)

Sporting: Eibar (H), Getafe (A), Villarreal (H)

Getafe: Deportivo (A), Sporting (H), Betis (A)

Levante: Málaga (A), Atlético (H), Rayo (A).

Getafe-Sporting might stand out most of all but there may be surprises ahead in the other games too. This weekend showed that, not least because there has certainly been a reaction as relegation draws closer. Three, maybe even four of the bottom five had opportunities this weekend, but blew them. The fifth, Granada, have not played yet: they face Celta on Monday night.

Rayo Vallecano were 2-0 up against Real Madrid, only to lose 3-2. Getafe, who finally won for the first time in 14 in midweek, came from 1-0 down to lead 2-1, pouring forward, missing chances, and taking 18 shots to the visitors’ five, only to concede an 84th-minute equaliser to Valencia. And even Sporting could claim to have deserved more. Barcelona won 6-0, sure, but Sporting had two cleared off the line and wasted a wonderful chance in a first half where they were arguably the better side. That’s not all: there were also appeals for a foul on Barcelona’s first; their second only came in the 64th minute, with Luis Suárez offside, just as a few frustrated whistles rang round; and three of their goals came from the penalty spot – two of them terrible decisions. Only one of their sixcame entirely doubt-free.

Often so angry, Abelardo was surprisingly calm: “If you don’t take your chances ...” he said. “We need nine points now, but we have done it before [2008-09], so why not now?” goalkeeper Picu Cuéllar asked. “We’ll never get a better chance to beat them,” Rayo manager Pako Jémez said after his side’s defeat to Madrid. And Getafe’s new coach Juan Esnaider insisted: “This is the way we have to play; we played very well and we will keep fighting, as long as we have strength left. My sensations are brilliant, even though this result leaves a bitter taste.” His opposite number Pako Ayestaran admitted that Getafe had been the better side. “At the full-time whistle, Diego Alves patted himself down to make sure he was in one piece,” AS wrote.

The end was cruel for Getafe, but there is hope suddenly. For Levante it was crueller yet, and there is little hope, equally suddenly. While they just about live to fight another day, the suspicion on the east coast is that it is over after those two late, late goals. There was no optimism, just confrontation.

Valencia’s Paco Alcacer celebrates after scoring against Getafe. Photograph: Mariscal/EPA

A total of 578 Levante fans had travelled 1,000 kilometres, more than 13 hours by coach to Granada on Thursday night, only to see their team beaten 5-1. The club apologised on Twitter, but on Sunday fans decided not to support the team for the opening 20 minutes as a protest and when, at the final whistle, the players applauded them some responded with waggling, admonishing fingers, others with a single, middle finger. The banner, first unfurled at the start, was raised again. Up at the top of the main stand, where the flags of every team fly in league table order, Levante’s fluttered in last place.

Every Monday, Raimon, the groundsman who has built a mini-museum in a tiny, damp little room under the stand over three decades at the club, climbs the steps on the other side of the ground and rearranges them. Once upon a time it was a task he relished; not any more. Pretty soon he may need a whole new set of flags. The main doubt now is which two from the current set he’ll be able to take with him.

Talking points

• He’s always had a pair of balls on him, that Diego Simeone. This weekend, especially. As Málaga broke late in the first half, dashing up the left win in front of the Atlético, another ball suddenly flew on to the pitch, in an attempt to break up the attack. It didn’t hit anyone, but the referee sent Diego Simeone off. Afterwards, Simeone said that he accepted the decision and that that it was right that he was made to walk and implied that he expects to get a ban and would accept one too, even though it was not actually him that threw the ball on. It was, rather, the ballboy alongside him. Footage seems to show Simeone turning to him and telling him to do so, though.

• Win at all costs, they say. But the question is what will cost? And could it cost them wins? Simeone faces a potential three game ban. Asked if that will be a problem for Atlético in the final three weeks, he smiled: “Well, I saw things quite well up there [in the directors’ box]. I saw the Correa change pretty well.” He was right too: Ángel Correa came on and, in Simeone’s words, “revolutionised” the game, running at Malaga and scoring the only goal, to keep the title race alive for Atlético. Mind you, Simeone sees the changes pretty well from the touchline too. No team has got as many goals from the bench as they have this season.

• “Madrid, saved by Bale”, said AS. He led his team back from 2-0 down to 3-2 at Vallecas, scoring the first and the third. Lucas Vázquez got the second with a superb header.

• And so, another week gone, and here we are again. The title contenders keep on keeping on. Three teams, one point, no second chances. Since it became a five-game sprint, they’ve all overcome their first two hurdles. Barcelona were the last to play this week and although they didn’t always play that well (Messi apart), they won 6-0 against Sporting with four goals from Suárez. That’s four goals in a game, two games running – the first player ever to do so. It also takes him to 34 league goals this season (and 53 in all competitions), three ahead of Ronaldo in the Pichichi table.

Barcelona’s Luis Suárez celebrates during Barcelona’s 6-0 win. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters

• “I’m a Rolling Stone,” Valencia manager Pako Ayestaran said. He didn’t say which one, but it’s probably Keef. Speaking of rolling and Valencia - is Abdennour playing in roller skates?

• “Right now we have to accept that they are a step above us, or two … or three,” Betis manager Merino admitted after Sevilla won the derby 2-0. He’s right, too. That’s four games between them this season, aggregate score: 8-0.

• Las Palmas: that just like Brazil thing is no joke, is it? Except that they’re better than Brazil right now.

• You want golazos? Wakaso, Parejo and Coke are your men this week. (And here’s a question: Is Parejo the best free-kick taker in Spain?)

• You want goals? Don’t go to Villarreal. Not this weekend anyway. All that way … (Mind you, Bruno did crash a free-kick off the bar. And is he an answer to that Parejo question?)

Results: Las Palmas 4-0 Espanyol, Rayo 2-3 Madrid, Atlético 1-0 Málaga, Barcelona 6-0 Sporting, Eibar 1-1 Deportivo, Levante 2-2 Athletic, Sevilla 2-0 Betis, Getafe 2-2 Valencia, Villarreal 0-0 Real Sociedad. Monday night: Celta-Granada.