Barcelona went down 1-0 at Celta Vigo while Real Madrid lost 3-2 at home to perennial bogey team Real Mallorca.

Valencia have a four-point advantage and if they win at Sevilla on Sunday, the UEFA Cup finalists will secure their second Spanish title in three years with two games left to play.

"The end of the season has been terrible," bemoaned Real Madrid striker Ronaldo, the Spanish first division's leading scorer.

Real have only won once in their last five league matches, including three consecutive losses at home.

"We tried but nothing has gone right for us," added the Brazilian World Cup winner, who had a goal disallowed against Mallorca.

Mallorca's Samuel Eto'o opened the scoring against Madrid after just 11 minutes after latching onto a long pass from the midfield, his fourth consecutive visit to the Santiago Bernabeu when he has scored.

Franciso Pavon then took just another six minutes to level the score, the defender rising above the Mallorca defence to head home the first league goal of his professional career from a David Beckham corner.

However, Mallorca constantly pressed the fragile Real defence and Eto'o found their weak spot again after 37 minutes.

Picking the ball just inside Real's half, the Cameroon international and African Player of the Year dashed past three Real players before slotting the ball home from just inside the edge of the area for his 17th goal of the season.

Alejandro Campano then added to Madrid's misery by getting Mallorca's third, from a direct free kick, three minutes before the break.

Luis Figo narrowed the gap six minutes after half time from the penalty spot after the referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez ruled that Sasa Delibasic had pushed Portugal's captain, but television replays left a lot of doubt about the decision.

Ronaldo had the Santiago Bernabeu on its feet shortly afterwards when he had the ball in the net but Iturralde Gonzalez's eyes were sharper on this occasion and spotted the Brazilian had handled to ball.

Ronaldo picked up a yellow card into the bargain and will miss next week's trip to bottom club Murcia.

Barcelona lost their first game in more than four months at struggling Celta Vigo earlier on Saturday.

"The league has slipped out of our hands," conceded Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard.

"It's sad because we had a good effort to get back in contention but in the end I think the three points we lost here now make it too far away.

"We had plenty of possession and were not short of ambition but Celta out-thought us with three central defenders," added the Dutch coach.

The only goal of the tense game, in which both sides had chances but neither shone, came two minutes before the break.

Celta's Juan Velasco sent in a cross from wide on the right and Alexander Mostovoi laid it back for Edu to find the net.

Edu proved to be a constant thorn in the side of a lacklustre Barca, who had been unbeaten in their previous 17 games.

The Brazilian nearly put Celta further ahead after 67 minutes only for Oleguer Presas to drag him down in the box but French midfielder Peter Luccin had his penalty saved by Barca keeper Victor Valdes.

Barcelona almost grabbed a late equaliser four minutes from time when Javier Saviola unleashed a shot that had to be headed off the line by Spanish international defender Juanfran Garcia.

Celta's win means they are out of the relegation zone for the first time in 10 weeks but all the other six teams that can still fill the remaining two relegation slots play on Sunday.

Murcia, last year's second division champions, are at the foot of the table and already assured of going straight back down.