The four-point lead, which had once felt like a vast, comfortable ocean, now felt like a shallow, treacherous puddle.
This was the mood as the players gathered for their first training session after the disastrous draw.
The usual pre-training banter was gone, replaced by a tense, somber silence.
They were a team that had tasted complacency and found it to be a bitter poison.
Coach Cristian Chivu stood before them, his face carved from stone.
"Two matches," he began, his voice a low, dangerous rumble that commanded the absolute attention of every player.
"That is our season. Everything we have fought for, every comeback, every drop of sweat, comes down to one hundred and eighty minutes of football."
