Mamelodi Sundowns' dream of winning their third successive PSL title suffered a major setback after they were beaten 3-1 by Cape Town City at Loftus Versveld Stadium.
Surprise Ralani netted twice for City with Kermit Erasmus also finding the back of the net on the night.
Sundowns' first goal came from Edmilson Dove's own goal after being put under pressure by Wayne Arendse while Keletso Makgalwa netted a second for Pitso Mosimane's men.
As a result, the Tshwane giants failed to close the gap on Kaizer Chiefs who are now six points clear at the top of the log with both teams having played the same number of league games.
Amakhosi have a chance to stretch their lead to nine points with a win over Bloemfontein Celtic on Wednesday.
Cape Town City, on the other hand, moved inside the Top 8 bracket, above both Golden Arrows and Highlands Park, with 33 points.
Sundowns made three changes to the side that drew with Highlands Park on Friday, with the likes of Tiyani Mabunda and Wayne Arendse cracking the nod while Lebohang Maboe moved from the right-back position high up the field alongside Gaston Sirino.
Jan Olde Riekerink made a single change to the side that beat Chippa United on the weekend.
Captain Thamsanqa Mkhize started on the bench as a precaution with Ebrahim Seedat starting in defence for the Citizens.
After a promising start to the first half where City took the game to Sundown, they were duly rewarded in the 13th minute when Ralani fired past Denis Onyango from the rebound 13 minutes into the game.
This was after good combination play between Ralani and Shane Roberts, who cleanly set up the speedy attacker, with a classy left-footed pass behind the Sundowns defence.
The home side should have scored a few minutes later after a good cut-back by Lakay inside the Sundowns box but the miscommunication between Roberts and Mduduzi Mdantsane saw the chance go to waste.
Sundowns threw everything at City in the final five minutes of the game with their midfield also pushing high up the field.
However, they were made to pay the heavy price on the stroke of half-time as Erasmus capitalised from some sloppy defending by Arendse and lobbed the ball over Onyango.
The visitors on the day, Sundowns, pulled one back deep into the first-half stoppage time when Dove headed past Peter Leeuwenburgh from a Gaston Sirino in-swinging corner to make it 2-1.
The second half wasn't different from the first as City knocked the ball around nicely and made it difficult for Sundowns.
They would then restore their two-goal advantage inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half as Ralani put Arendse under pressure before stealing the possession and firing the ball past Onyango who was off his line.
It was Ralani's second on the night, much to the delight of Riekerink while for Mosimane, this was a major blow to their comeback chances.
Hlompho Kekana and Phakamani Mahlambi should have done better midway through the second half but they failed to beat Leeuwenburgh from their attempts.
The Sundowns skipper ballooned his effort high and wide after being played through on goal while Mahlambi connected with a cross into the box but also couldn't hit the target from inside the small box.
Sundowns showed some urgency in the dying minutes of the game as they wanted to keep their hopes alive.
From the bench, Makgalwa pulled one back as he latched on to a loose ball inside the City box, slotting the ball past Leeuwenburgh from close range.
Sundowns' final chance came deep into stoppage time from a free-kick situation but Lyle Lakay, brimming with confidence from scoring a set-piece in the 3-2 win over Bidvest Wits, failed to get the ball past the City wall.
Ultimately, City claimed all the points on offer and continued their dominance over the Brazilians.
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