Barcelona came within two minutes of taking top spot in the Primera División before simultaneous goals by Espanyol's Raul Tamudo and Real Madrid's Ruud van Nistelrooy against Real Zagaoza saw Barça's title hopes fade and Real Madrid more or less crowned champions of Spain.

The game started well with both teams getting the ball and mounting attacks, but as the game went on, Barcelona controlled possession, but were unable to do much with the ball. Despite some attempts on goal by Eto'o and Gudjohnsen, Barça never looked a real threat, and they paid heavily for this when on the half hour mark, De La Peña gave Tamudo a pinpoint pass to allow him to run on and score the goal. It was 0-1 on the night, and Tamudo was now equal club top scorer for Espanyol with 111 goals to his name. Hardly the start Barcelona were looking for.

After the goal Barcelona were able to once again control possession of the ball, and not do much with it. However, in the 43rd minute of play Messi cemented his rightful place as the true heir to Maradona. With Zambrotta in a wing position, he let in a cross, and Messi scored using his fist (video replay on the right). Espanyol players were livid with the decision, but the referee had made his choice, and it was 1-1 on the night.

Meanwhile in Zaragoza, Real Zaragoza were leading Real Madrid 1-0 thanks to a Gabriel Milito penalty which meant that Barça went into the half time break top of the Primera División.

Half time came and went, and Barcelona came out with a purpose. This time they controlled the possession and were able to orchestrate some flowing moves forward. With Messi staring, it was only a mater of time when a serious goal scoring opportunity would come, and even though Gudjohnsen and Deco had shots on goal, neither were able to get them on target. In the 55th minute though, a flowing Barca move gave Messi a chance to give Barca the lead, and the Argentinian wonder kid made no mistake, making it 2-1 on the night, and putting Barca in pole position for the Primera División title. Madrid on the other hand were now level with Zaragoza two minutes after Messi had scored thanks to yet another goal from Ruud van Nistelrooy but moments after that, Gabriel Milito found another goal and Madrid were now trailing 2-1 with time running out - Barça were now 3 points clear of the team from the capital and more or less had one hand on the title.

The game looked over at this point, with Barça leading and still creating chances, but their inefficiency in front of goal could very well be what costs them the league this season. With only minutes remaining Eto'o had a chance to make it 3-1 and seal the game, but he missed his chance. Only a minute later, with nothing but added time left to play, Tamudo was able to break the offside trap, thanks to an Oleguer who looked lost, and rushed in to make it 2-2.

It looked like another combination of inefficiency and shocking defence had let Barça down again, and just as this was sinking in, only 18 seconds after the Tamudo goal, the Barça faithful got the news that Ruud Van Nistelrooy had scored his second goal of the evening to make it 2-2 for Real.

Within 18 seconds, Barça had gone from virtually being champions to going back into second place and more or less guaranteeing the championship to arch-rivals Real Madrid.