Osasuna 1-2 Barcelona
Barcelona picked up another impressive away victory on Saturday, as they secured a 2-1 victory over Osasuna at El Sadar.
Barcelona had a lot of possession in the opening stages, but they did very little with it. Osasuna came the closest to scoring in the first half, with both chances falling to star striker Ante Budimir, who struck an effort against the post before having a long-range effort turned round the post by Joan Garcia.
The second half also began with Barcelona dominating proceedings, albeit they zipped the ball around a lot more. They had a big chance to open the scoring when Eric Garcia knocked down for Dani Olmo to strike at goal, but his effort was blocked by an Osasuna defender, much to the visitors’ frustration.
That miss prompted Hansi Flick to turn to his bench, with Frenkie de Jong, Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres all brought on. And it was the Manchester United loanee that made the telling difference on 81 minutes, as his wonderful cross was bulleted into the Osasuna net via the head of Robert Lewandowski.
And five minutes later, Barcelona appeared to put the game out of sight when Torres slid home following an exchange of passes with Fermin Lopez. However, Osasuna were not done yet, as they got a goal back immediately when Abel Bretones’ cross was headed home by fellow substitute Raul Garcia de Haro, although it did turn out to be in vain.
Barcelona can seal title with helping hand from Espanyol
The victory means Barcelona are now 14 points clear of Real Madrid in the La Liga title race. They only have 12 left to play for, but Los Blancos will keep their faint hopes alive with a victory over Espanyol on Sunday – but anything else and it will be wrapped up before El Clasico next weekend.
