Barcelona had a great win in their final game prior to the break for World Cup. World Cup and are now five points clear over Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table with a thrilling victory by 2-1 against Osasuna in the evening of Tuesday. Barca suffered a terribly first half where they conceded a goal early and also saw Robert Lewandowski sent off, but they showed tremendous tenacity during the second half to score their winning goal and take home three huge points in the process against a formidable Osasuna team who offered Barca everything they could take on.
First Half
In the first half, it was as awful as it could be for Barca. They were unable to escape Osasuna's high press. Osasuna pressing area and getting easy balls in dangerous places. Home team scores in the first minute and scored with David Garcia heading home a corner from Ruben Garcia to take the advantage.
The goal should not be counted since Unai Garcia was running over Marcos Alonso and committed a clear foul during the buildup. Nevertheless, VAR and the official Jesus Gil Manzano and VAR didn't notice the foul and confirmed the penalty,said by app judi online malaysia.
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It took them some time to settle into the game and then Barca began to perform better and even came close on some instances but their poor decisions during the last third of their game let them fall. At the point when it appeared as that they were set to go on the offensive, Robert Lewandowski was sent off with another yellow card following receiving a soft caution during the first half of the match. Barca had to settle for 10 players with just over an hour left.
The Blaugrana demonstrated great endurance and played some of their best football when being reduced to ten men and nearly scored the equaliser when Ferran Torres crossed the ball in the in the back of the net, but was invalidated for offside.
The half-time break was when a shaky Barca team were down by a goal and one man. They had to climb a mountain during the second half and the shoddy refereeing made their job more difficult.
Second Half
Barca began the second period by scoring a crucial goal: only three minutes into the game, Jordi Alba tried a crossing from the left for Ferran and, after a poor attempt to clear by Unai Garcia, it was Pedri who took advantage of the rebound, making it 1-1. With a goal that was a major hit at the beginning of the second period, Barca decided to manage the game, and began to defend much more strongly, while allowing possession to Osasuna and remaining well-organized and compact to save energy to finish.
With 15 minutes remaining, Xavi Hernandez went for the ball: the coach did a daring substitution, dropping Andreas Christensen and putting in Gavi who made Frenkie De Jong from center-back in order to enhance the forward passing and to try to make chances . Xavi also brought in Raphinha The Brazilian did Raphinha the Brazilian playing the role of hero. Following stunning ball that was thrown over the top by De Jong, Raphinha showed remarkable composure as he steered the ball past the goalkeeper for an incredible goal, and put the home side ahead with just five minutes remaining.
The final minutes of the match were all about survival, as Osasuna pushed all forward to search for an equalizer in the final minutes and the team from home had a chance to scoring a few times but failed. Barca did everything they could to keep hold of the ball and to waste time before the final whistle was blown to conclude an unforgettable evening in El Sadar.
This is among those wins that you reflect on at the conclusion of the season. those three points could be the deciding factor in the race for the title. The determination and fight from this team is impressive as well as Xavi deserves to be recognized for his outstanding substitutions in this game. There was every indication of a disastrous night however, Barca managed to salvage the day. As champions do.