Barcelona 2-0 Osasuna: Raphinha brace moves Catalan club seven points clear at LaLiga summit

Barcelona extended their lead at the top of LaLiga with a 2-0 victory over struggling Osasuna at the Camp Nou on Saturday.

Raphinha scored both goals as the Catalan club made it seven league wins in a row to move seven points clear at the summit of the table, albeit having played one game more than rivals Real Madrid, who meet Alaves tomorrow.

But it was far from plain sailing for Hansi Flick’s side against their 16th-placed opponents. The hosts endured a frustrating evening for more than an hour after a disallowed first-half goal was followed by several good chances that went begging.

Osasuna had a handful of opportunities to cause an upset, but Flick’s men eventually broke down the visitors to take all three points.

Barca’s first chance came inside the opening 15 minutes, Torres prodding over from Lamine Yamal’s pacy inswinging delivery.

Moments later, the visitors went close to going in front when Ante Budimir shot straight at Joan Garcia at close range after swivelling in the area.

Eric Garcia then blasted narrowly wide for the hosts before Torres thought he had made amends for his earlier miss when he headed into the top corner from Marcus Rashford’s chipped delivery on 23 minutes.

However, an offside from Barcelona’s short-corner in the build-up meant the goal was chalked off.

Flick cut an agitated figure on the touchline. For all their dominance, the LaLiga leaders failed to break down their stubborn opponents.

Torres fired off-target with an acrobatic effort after some spectacular footwork from Yamal; a squandered chance that will have done little to ease the Barca boss’ frustration.

The game continued in much the same fashion after the break, with the hosts dominant but the visitors still offering a threat.

A rasping Rashford free-kick drew a fine save from Sergio Herrera before a swift Osasuna counter ended in a Victor Munoz shot that brushed the side netting.

But just when it seemed it might be one of those nights for Barca, they eventually broke the deadlock on 70 minutes, following a sweeping move through the thirds that culminated in Raphinha arrowing a left-footed strike into the bottom corner from just outside the box.

With 10 minutes remaining, Herrera parried from Yamal’s curling goal-bound effort before Raphinha doubled his tally for the evening five minutes later, gratefully tapping home at the far post from Alejandro Catena’s attempted clearance to make the points safe.