📝 In a parallel universe ... Espanyol blow title race wide open 🇪🇸 | OneFootball

If the football season hadn’t been halted by the coronavirus, we would have been enjoying matchday 36 of the LaLiga season this weekend.

But we aren’t, and until the season officially does resume, all we can do is imagine what may have gone down in Spain’s top flight instead.

Ten man Real Madrid get back on track with some help from a feathered friend

After last weekend’s slip up at San Mamés saw them fall a point behind Barcelona in the race for the title, Real Madrid regained control of the situation with a victory against Alavés in the day’s early kick off.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing from Zinedine Zidane’s men, who fell behind to a calamitous own goal and had captain Sergio Ramos sent off after just five minutes.

The record books will say Alavés took the lead at the Bernabeu through a Ramos own goal but in fact it was all goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’s fault.

Madrid began the game confidently and hadn’t even given their opponents a single kick of the ball when Ramos decided to calmly pass the ball back to his goalkeeper.

But Courtois appeared to be distracted by the flight of a passing seagull, and the Belgian didn’t notice his team-mate’s back-pass until the ball had already nestled into his net.

Ramos was so angry that he immediately ran over to the goalkeeper and tried to strangle him!

Luckily his team-mates intervened before any serious damage was done but the referee had seen enough, and Ramos was shown a straight red card for violent conduct.

If Zidane had any hair he would have been tearing it out as his side’s title challenge appeared to lie in tatters.

But he needn’t have worried too much, as they were soon back on level terms thanks to a lovely Karim Benzema finish.

And then in the second half, the match turned even more bizarre when a long kick downfield from Courtois appeared to mysteriously change direction in mid-air.

It was enough to totally deceive Alavés goalkeeper Fernando Flores and the ball ended up in the back of the net for 2-1.

Real Madrid’s players flocked to Courtois to congratulate him, and even Sergio Ramos couldn’t resist a smile from the stands.

Replays later showed that Courtois’s goal-kick had taken a mid-air deflection off the very same seagull he had been transfixed by earlier in the match, the goal was allowed to stand and Los Blancos won 2-1.

Funny old game.

Messi sees red as Espanyol stun Barça

That win for Real Madrid meant the pressure was on Barcelona when they welcomed local rivals Espanyol to Camp Nou in the day’s late kick off.

And the pressure appeared to be getting to Lionel Messi when he was shown a yellow card for a cynical tackle on David López early in the game.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, a cross into the box looked to have picked out Messi for a free header on the edge of the six-yard box.

But we can only assume the Argentine superstar has been watching too much of The Last Dance on Netflix because rather than heading the ball home, he leapt up and slam dunked it into the net!

Michael Jordan would have been impressed but the referee was not, and Messi was shown a second yellow card for a deliberate handball.

Things went from bad to worse in the 60th minute when Raúl de Tomás put the visitors 1-0 up with a sumptuous volley.

Barça pressed for an equaliser but without Messi they were unable to find a way through, and Espanyol held on to register their first victory at Camp Nou since 2009.

That result means Real Madrid are two points clear at the top with two games remaining, and the Blaugrana will travel to face Real Valladolid on Wednesday without their star man.