Barcelona 1-0 Osasuna: Player ratings as Barça secure late La Liga win
By Sean Walsh
Barcelona are on the verge of securing a first La Liga title in four years after securing a late win against Osasuna at Camp Nou on Tuesday evening.
For the second game running, La Blaugrana had to beat a ten-man side to secure victory, eventually managing to prevail late in the day.
If second-placed Real Madrid fail to win at Real Sociedad later on Tuesday, Barça can secure the title with three points at city rivals Espanyol next Sunday.
Osasuna put up a respectable fight in their final game before this weekend's Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.
Barcelona initially struggled to break Osasuna down, with most of their success coming from low crosses and cut-backs.
This was inevitably their route to their first sight of goal, with Pedri finding space in the six-yard box to meet a superb cross from Alejandro Balde, but his shot somehow bounced wide instead of in.
But then the game was put on a platter for Barça. Osasuna debutant Jorge Herrando clipped the heels of Pedri as he was running in on goal, with the young defender being shown a straight red card.
From the resulting free-kick part of Camp Nou thought Raphinha had opened the scoring, but his effort clipped the top of the bar and nestled on top of the net.
Soon after, Raphinha met a long ball over the top and tried to dink goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez before they collided, but this shot too went off target.
Up next to try his luck was defender Ronald Araujo, who headed narrowly over from a Raphinha corner.
After the break, another great chance went begging for Barcelona. Pedri's deep cross picked out the late run of Frenkie de Jong, who fired straight at the arm of Fernandez from just outside the six-yard box.
Ansu Fati then forced Fernandez into a low save with a shot from the edge of the area, before Ousmane Dembele fired wide with the goal gaping as Barcelona's frustrations continued.
Osasuna were growing into the game via the counter attack, with Iker Munoz bringing a save out of Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Kike Barja skying at the second attempt.
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The unusually quiet Robert Lewandowski saw a decent strike pushed away by Fernandez after Sergio Bidquets did well to dance past several gangly Osasuna legs and find the Pole.
Barcelona nearly took a 76th-minute lead in strange circumstances when Fernandez's clearance bounced straight back off the shins of Ferran Torres - his first touch after coming on as a substitute - and the ball whistled narrowly wide.
At last, Barcelona had the ball in the net with their next attack. Osasuna failed to clear a cross and Lewandowski eventually scrambled the ball over the line, but Torres was offside during the initial phase of play and the goal was chalked off.
As the game entered the last five minutes, Barcelona finally took the lead. Lewandowski's cross was cleverly nodded on by De Jong and into the path of Jordi Alba, who smashed the ball in at the near post.
Barcelona player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 6/10 - Just the 25 clean sheets for Ter Stegen in La Liga this season now.
RB: Jules Kounde - 5/10 - Tried to help when roaming forward but his role as essentially a wider centre-back was redundant against ten men.
CB: Ronald Araujo - 6/10 - Swept up all hopes of an Osasuna goal against the run of play.
CB: Andreas Christensen - 5/10 - Most of Osasuna's attacks came down Araujo's side instead.
LB: Alejandro Balde - 6/10 - Played with the freedom of an overlapping winger.
DM: Sergio Busquets - 7/10 - Controlled the game before being sacrificed for another forward late on.
CM: Frenkie de Jong - 8/10 - Played it safe plenty before assisting Alba with a wonderful piece of ingenuity.
CM: Pedri - 7/10 - Picked the Osasuna lock but was let down by his teammates at points in a frustrating yet ultimately successful second half.
RW: Raphinha - 6/10 - Had a lot of joy running at the visitors in the first half before being hooked early in the second.
CF: Robert Lewandowski - 6/10 - Scarcely involved until the latter stages but ultimately made his presence count.
LW: Gavi - 5/10 - Withdrawn in the first half with a groin injury.
Substitutes
Ansu Fati (36' for Gavi) - 6/10 - Barcelona's most effective winger, though even he had problems with his crossing and finding a clear route to goal.
Ousmane Dembele (53' for Raphinha) - 6/10
Eric Garcia (53' for Christensen) - 5/10
Ferran Torres (76' for Busquets) - 5/10
Jordi Alba (76' for Balde) - 8/10
Manager
Xavi - 7/10 - Barcelona eventually found a way through though had probably made lives easier for themselves.
Osasuna player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Aitor Fernandez (7); RB: Diego Moreno (7), CB: Unai Garcia (6), CB: Jorge Herrando (1), LB: Manu Sanchez (6); CM: Pablo Ibanez (5), CM: Lucas Torro (5), CM: Aimar Oroz (5); RW: Ruben Garcia (5), CF: Chimy Avila (5), LW: Iker Benito (5)
SUBS: Enrique Barja (5), Iker Munoz (5), Kike Garcia (5), Juan Cruz (5), Aridane Hernandez (5)