An action-packed weekend of football in Spain's La Liga culminated in the biggest news coming off the pitch as Real Madrid's under-fire coach Jose Antonio Camacho offered to resign.
Saturday's abject loss to Espanyol lit the touch paper, coming as it did just four days after German outfit Bayer Leverkusen sent Real packing in the opening match of the Champions League.
Cadena Ser radio reported late Sunday that Camacho had spoken to Real chairman Florentino Perez and offered to stand down but Perez had asked him to sleep on it until Monday.
"He is sad. Everything will be decided after a meeting at the Bernabeu tomorrow," Perez told EFE news agency Sunday night.
Tuesday sees Real host Osasuna and were the meringues and their galacticos to drop more points, it could be the end of the line for Camacho even if he is persuaded to stay on after Monday's crisis meeting.
If he does part company with the nine-times European champions it would be a humiliating exit for the 49-year-old Camacho.
Six years ago he resigned just three weeks after arriving following a disagreement with former chairman Lorenzo Sanz over transfer policy.
That led to four years as coach of Spain's underachieving national side before a season at Benfica of Portugal before the revolving door at Real spun once again with the ejection of Carlos Queiroz following a Champions League quarter-final exit to Monaco and only fourth place in the league.
If Camacho looked to have won the transfer game with the signings of big-name defenders Walter Samuel and Johnathan Woodgate, as well as England hitman Michael Owen, his second reign could now end after just 120 days.
Spain's unforgiving fans will look at a table which shows not just the hated Barcelona a point ahead of them but also city rivals Atletico Madrid after the pair parted 1-1 in the capital on Sunday night.
Barca, who have looked title material to judge by their early form which follows on from a superb second half to last year's campaign, took the lead on 22 minutes through former Arsenal man Giovanni Van Bronckhorst, their Dutch defender, only for Fernando Torres to clip home the equaliser after the break.
Torres' third goal of the season only serves to show up the out-of-form Raul at Real, the latter having completely lost his route to goal in recent months.
In the late game, Athletic Bilbao are still without a win after losing 2-1 at home to Deportivo La Coruna, who secured their first win.
Iraola put Bilbao ahead ten minutes after the interval but Walter Pandiani headed the visitors level and Luque snatched the win right on the whistle.
The top six now shows no mention of Real with a six-way tie on teams who have seven points from three games.
Espanyol lead the way with Atletico and Barca, as well as Osasuna, reigning champions Valencia and Real Zaragoza in hot pursuit.
Valencia showed their mettle with a 3-1 home win Saturday over Real Sociedad with Marco Di Vaio scoring twice and Mista grabbing the third.
Real were undone at Espanyol despite Camacho's best efforts to rejig his expensively-assembled side.
David Beckham began on the bench and in mitigation both Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo were missing through injury.
Juan Fran replaced Beckham and Owen started for the first time but failed to shine.
"I didn't see Real Madrid play football," said Camacho, who added ominously but sagely that "the coach is responsible for all defeats."
Espanyol seized their chance against a dispirited Real and four minutes from the interval scored the only goal of the game when Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez picked up a pass from skipper Raul Tamudo to score past Cesar.
Tamudo could have put his side in front earlier in the first half, but he missed a twice-taken penalty.
Ronaldo squandered Real's best opportunity when he also missed a penalty which he had won in the 50th minute.