New Delhi: A second half double from Raphinha enabled Barcelona to battle past Osasuna 2-0 and extend their lead in La Liga to seven points.
Barcelona enjoyed
an overwhelming 80% possession and fired 24 shots but were denied for better part of the match by Osasuna’s five-man defence and multiple outstanding saves from goalkeeper Sergio Herrera.
Barcelona finally broke through in the 70th minute as Pedri’s probing pass sliced through the visiting team’s defence and found Raphinha in his stride to control the ball and unleash a booming strike from the edge of the area into the left post.
The Brazilian then confirmed three points on 86 minutes with a volley into an empty net to a deflected Jules Kounde centre on the right as he was left unmarked at the far post.
Barca now have 43 points, seven ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who are scheduled to face Alaves on Sunday.
“It’s very commendable (what Osasuna did) because they were very compact and we struggled to break them down,” Barca defender Gerard Martin told Movistar Plus.
“But with patience and a lot of ball possession, we know that goals always come and we finally found them.”
The Catalans thought they had taken the lead in the 23rd minute when Ferran Torres headed in Marcus Rashford’s cross but it was chalked off for offside after a lengthy VAR review.
The best chance for the hosts then came in the 40th minute as Lamine Yamal ran past his marker down the right flank to deliver an accurate cross to Torres, whose audacious overhead kick went wide of the far post.
Osasuna defended dourly in spit of Barcelona laying siege with Rashford testing Herrera from a free kick right after resumption of play.
Yamal was a constant threat down the right channel as he continued to run at defenders, but the visitors were able to absorb what ever Barca came up with until Raphinha’s intervention.
