Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona recorded their first win in four Primera Liga games to close within three points of Real Madrid at the top of the table with a 3-0 win at Osasuna.
Barca should have killed the game off in the first half as Luis Suarez and Messi missed two big chances each against the Primera Liga’s bottom side.
However, Suarez rounded off a fine team move to break the deadlock midway through the second half before Messi’s double in the final 17 minutes moved him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as the Primera Liga’s top scorer with 11 goals for the season.
Madrid can extend their lead once more and set a new club record unbeaten run of 35 games when they host Deportivo la Coruna later on Saturday.
Barca were in desperate need of a lift after conceding in the last minute to Madrid in last weekend’s El Clasico.
Barcelona’s upturn in performance since captain Andres Iniesta’s return from a six-week injury layoff continued in the first half at Osasuna, but the visitors were in danger of paying for their profligacy in front of goal before the second half blitz.
Osasuna remain five points off safety and remain without a home win all season.
Osasuna briefly threatened to cause a huge upset either side of half-time as firstly Oriol Riera just couldn’t stretch to tap home a dangerous cross at the back post.
Sergio Leon then gave Barca a scare when his brilliant lob over Marc-Andre ter Stegen came back off the underside of the bar.
Barca created fewer chances in the second half, but were more clinical.
Sergio Busquets and Messi combined to release Jordi Alba on the left and his low cross was rolled into an unguarded net by Suarez despite Osasuna calls for offside.
The second goal came about in similar fashion 13 minutes later as Alba again got to the by-line and his cross was volleyed home by Messi at the near post.
And Messi didn’t need any help for his second in stoppage time as he wriggled clear of three Osasuna defen
0 comments:
Post a Comment