Barca Close In On Atletico With Vital Victory
07 March, 2021
LaLiga
Result: Osasuna 0-2 FC Barcelona
Date: 06 March 2021
Venue: Estadio El Sadar
FC Barcelona moved to within two tips of LaLiga leaders Atletico Madrid with a 2-0 success over Osasuna on Saturday night time.
Barca made two improvements from the win over Sevilla, as Samuel Umtiti replaced the injured Gerard Pique while Antoine Griezmann started ahead of Ousmane Dembele.
Blaugrana were struggling to breakdown a deep lying Osasuna found in the early exchanges but the hosts had an offside call up by the Video tutorial Assistant Referee (VAR) to thank in the 21st minute after shot-stopper Sergio Herrera was initially sent off for handling the ball outside the box trying to deal with Lionel Messi.
Jordi Alba finally broke the deadlock for Ronald Koeman's expenses on the half-hour tag with a cracking and looping strike at the trunk post from a tight angle after a chip over the defence by Messi.
Ruben Garcia had a large chance to find the equaliser for Osasuna 10 minutes prior to the break after dribbling his way clear on objective at the near post but his shot from close collection produced a magnificent conserve from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who preserved Barca's narrow lead likely to the break.
Blaugrana were quiet found in the early stages of the next stanza, dropping deep within their own half and preferring to play on counter-attacks.
Alba came close to doubling the business lead for Barca in the last 12 moments after a dink more than the defence by Messi sent him clear but his close-range shot reach Herrera in the facial skin.
Ilaix Moriba killed the game for Blaugrana in the last seven moments with a curling hit towards the very best corner from the edge of the package and the visitors held on to progress to within two things of leaders Atletico found in second put on the log, although they have played two video games more.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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