What is the story about?
Barcelona
have opened up a temporary 14-point gap at the top of the La Liga table and have taken another giant step towards clinching back-to-back league titles thanks to a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Osasuna at El Sadar on Saturday night. After a very poor attacking performance for most of the match, the Blaugrana finally came alive in the final 10 minutes and Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres found the net to secure the victory and leave Barça on the brink of the championship.
Reactions & Observations
- The opening 45 minutes of this one were very similar to what we saw at Getafe last week: Barça had most of the ball and faced a team that sat deep to absorb pressure and create danger on the counter. The Catalans had a couple of half-chances but never came close to truly troubling the Osasuna defense, and the home team were quite comfortable as a defensive unit.
- Osasuna also brought plenty of threat as a counter-attacking side, and striker Ante Budimir had the two biggest chance of the period: one was a great solo run that ended with a shot against the post, and the other was a strike from distance that required a brilliant save from Joan Garcia.
- The game was goalless at the break and Osasuna had the better of the chances against a Barça side that struggled to show creativity up front, and the Blaugrana needed to improve a lot in the final third to find the winning goals in the second half.
- Barça did a better job of controlling Osasuna’s counter-attacking threat in the second half, but their attack still left a lot to be desired as the Blaugrana continued to struggle to do anything meaningful with their superior possession. Pedri tried everything in his power to connect the lines and find teammates in good positions, but the front players struggled with the final product.
- Hansi Flick made a triple change at the hour mark that included Marcus Rashford among others, and the Englishman eventually made a huge contribution with a perfect cross to find Robert Lewandowski, who made a perfect run inside the box to get away from his defender and headed home the opener in the 81st minute.
- Five minutes after that came a potential knockout punch as Fermín López played Ferran Torres through on goal and The Shark fired it home to double the Barça lead, but Raúl headed home a cross from the left to bring Osasuna back into the contest and set up a dramatic finish.
- Osasuna had eight minutes of stoppage time to try and find a late equalizer but couldn’t create a real chance, and Barça survived the late blitz and the final whistle came to give them all three points. Winning at El Sadar is never easy and Barça didn’t help themselves with a disappointing attacking display, but two great goals were enough to seal the win.
- Barça could be crowned champions tomorrow if Real Madrid don’t beat Espanyol, but the Catalans know that the league title is only a matter of time after tonight’s win. Well done, boys!
