Barcelona missed a glorious chance to close in on the league title after falling to a shock 2-1 defeat at promoted Real Sociedad last night as their 32-match unbeaten league run came to an end.

Pep Guardiola’s side could have moved to within one point of a third successive league crown with victory after rivals Real Madrid suffered a surprise 3-2 home loss to Real Zaragoza earlier in the day.

Instead, the champions now need four points from their final four games to retain the title.

Barcelona took the lead through Thiago Alcantara on 29 minutes, but substitute Diego Ifran equalised on 71 minutes and Xabi Prieto converted an 82nd-minute penalty to give strugglers Sociedad a vital win.

It was Barca’s first away defeat of the season although they retain their eight-point cushion over Real at the summit.

Real coach Jose Mourinho saw his week go from bad to worse as Madrid fell to strugglers Zaragoza, three days after their 2-0 Cham-pions League semi-final first leg loss to Barcelona.

Mourinho had gone nine years without losing a home league match, but this was his second home league upset inside a month following the 1-0 defeat by Sporting Gijon at the beginning of April.

Guardiola resisted the temptation to rest all of his stars ahead of the semi-final second leg against Real at Camp Nou on Wednesday, fielding Lionel Messi, Xavi and Gerard Pique.

Martin Montoya, 20, and Andreu Fontas, 21, were given a chance to shine along with 21-year-old Thiago, all three of whom are products of Barca’s fabled youth system.

A brace from Angel Lafita and a penalty from Gabriel Arenas helped down Madrid, who were reduced to 10 men late on with Ricardo Carvalho sent off for two yellow cards.

Sergio Ramos (62 minutes) and Karim Benzema (85) pulled goals back for the hosts, but Zaragoza held on to move four points clear of the relegation zone.

Primera Liga
R. Madrid 2 - R. Zaragoza 3
R. Sociedad 2 - Barcelona 1