Real Madrid's terrible season has got no end it seems as Cristiano Ronaldo scored a self-goal to successfully offer relegation-threatened Granada an alarming 1-0 victory on Saturday.
Coach Jose Mourinho had already lost all hopes in emerging victorious in the league before Christmas and this current defeat indicates that Barcelona can enhance their lead over them to 18 points if they score a winner at Valencia on Sunday.
There were speculations over whether or not Ronaldo would be included as he is cramping with an ankle injury and his condition didn't heal when he placed a header with a Granada corner into his own goal after 22 minutes.
Real had netted nine goals in their last two league games but they were short of the required drive apparently due to a draining El Clasico in midweek where they scraped a 1-1 draw in the initial round of their King's Cup fixture with Barcelona.
"It was not a good game and we lost and I am responsible," said Mourinho.
“I didn't like the first half from the team, it was terrible. We improved after the break and we dominated. We had a chance to score but if we had taken it then the performance still wouldn't have been sufficient.
"It was a big effort after playing on Wednesday and some teams have a day longer to recover but that is not enough to explain the display as we needed to respond."
After Iker Casillas was injured, the Real coach once again enabled his trust in Diego Lopez in goal instead of youth icon Antonio Adan while Raphael Varane also retained his place after an inevitable performance against Barca.
That was a baptism of fire for Granada coach Lucas Alcaraz who only had just a couple of training sessions with the team after being inducted this week with the team only a spot above the relegation zone.
He thought of inducing sweeping changes but did include new signing Nolito from Benfica on the left wing, with Dani Benitez cramped, while Diego Buonanotte, who relocated from Malaga, remained for his chance on the bench.
Madrid began with most of the ball but they were rough in their passing and with Granada defending in numbers they were successfully got closed them down bereft of any alarms.
The home team rolled out their stall to ensure Madrid that it had possession in the center of the pitch while Ronaldo and Angel Di Maria limped to find rhythm to make way into their defence as they have lacked the in-form Mesut Ozil through suspension.
Inigo Lopez moved ahead for Granada from a corner after 13 minutes and they appeared lethal with numerous breaks but they were not having a perfect final ball.
Ultimately, Carlos Aranda sent over a gripping cross with the Madrid defence spread after 20 minutes and Alvaro Arbeloa entered just before Nolito at the far post to kick it behind.
From the concluding corner Granada got the lead as Nolito's cross was kicked into his own net by Ronaldo hopping close to the post.
