Carlos Espí gives Real Madrid hope in the face of Barcelona’s La Liga storm | Sid Lowe

With Barcelona racking up seven-goal thrillers, Real Madrid could not afford a collapse. Enter the forward quietly turning into José Mourinho’s ultimate secret weapon José Mourinho called and Carlos Espí came to his side. It was late, it was noisy and it was almost over – the match and maybe even something more – when Real Madrid’s coach took the forward who is also his flatmate to one side on Tuesday night. Standing close, Mourinho had a message to deliver; he also had a piece of paper