Raphinha struck twice late in the second half as Barcelona secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory over a resolute Osasuna side, extending their lead at the top of La Liga to seven points. Hansi Flick’s men now sit on 43 points, comfortably clear of second-placed Real Madrid, who have a game in hand and play at Alavés on Sunday.
Despite their control of the game, Barcelona struggled to break down Osasuna’s deep defensive block until the 70th minute when Pedri’s incisive pass cut through the visitors’ defence, finding Raphinha in his stride. The Brazilian forward took a controlled touch before unleashing a thunderous strike from the edge of the area, the ball arrowing inside the left post to finally break the deadlock. Raphinha sealed the win in the 86th minute. A deflected cross from Jules Koundé on the right found the Brazilian unmarked at the far post, and he calmly volleyed the ball into an empty net, giving the scoreline a more comfortable look.
Atlético Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to guide them to a 2-1 victory over struggling Valencia, helping snap their losing run in La Liga. Koke opened the scoring in the 17th minute, his first league goal in nearly two years, but Lucas Beltrán provided the equaliser for the visitors in the 63rd minute with a stunning strike from the edge of the box. The goal seemed to unsettle Atlético, but Griezmann restored order 12 minutes later, the 34-year-old expertly controlling a long pass from Marc Pubill before hammering a thunderous half-volley into the top corner from close range.
Griezmann told Dazn: “The team was coming off a tough win at PSV in the Champions League midweek. We struggled today, but we substitutes came on to look for a spark and I’m glad that we found it. I’m happy here. I have a wonderful family, wonderful fans, live in a wonderful city … And I’m happy. I’m going to make the most of every minute I get.”
Atlético remain fourth and are one point behind third-place Villarreal, who visit Levante on Sunday. Atlético are nine adrift of Barcelona.
In the Bundesliga, the Bayer Leverkusen substitute Martin Terrier staked a claim for goal of the season when he scored with a remarkable mid-air back-heeled volley to help his team to a 2-0 victory over Cologne in the Rhine derby. The 28-year-old broke the deadlock in the 66th minute, connecting with Arthur’s cross, which was behind his back, to score with a back-heeled scorpion kick. Cologne found themselves 2-0 down six minutes later, with Robert Andrich powering in a header from a corner. The win lifted Leverkusen to 26 points in fourth place, with leaders Bayern Munich, on 37, in action against Mainz on Sunday.
Ritsu Doan scored for Eintracht Frankfurt to end a four-game winless run across all competitions with a 1-0 defeat of Augsburg.
St Pauli overcame the sending-off of Eric Smith to end their 10-game winless run with a 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Heidenheim.Wolfsburg’s revival under their interim coach, Daniel Bauer, continued with a 3-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. It stretched the team’s unbeaten run to three games. Hoffenheim beat promoted Hamburg 4-1 for their fourth straight home win.
In France Paris Saint-Germain moved top of Ligue 1 overnight with a 3-2 win at bottom-placed Metz, where the champions twice had a two-goal cushion cut and Gonçalo Ramos, Quentin Ndjantou and Désiré Doué were all on the scoresheet for the visitors. Jessy Deminguet and Giorgi Tsitaishvili, finishing off a fine move after a back-heeled pass from Gauthier Hein, scored for Metz. PSG are on 36 points, two ahead of Lens, who host Nice on Sunday while Metz remain bottom of the standings with 11 points.
Meanwhile, Juventus’s owners have rejected a bid for their majority stake in the Serie A club. The Agnelli family’s holding company, Exor, decided not to accept an all-cash offer from crypto firm Tether to buy its entire stake in Italy’s most successful club. “Juve has been part of my family for 102 years,” Exor’s chief executive, John Elkann, said in a video on Juventus’ website on Saturday.
“Juve is part of a much, much larger family, the Bianconeri family, made up of millions of fans in Italy and around the world who love Juve the way you love the people closest to you. It is with this passion in mind, with this love story that has united us for more than a century, that as a family we continue to support our team and look to the future to build a winning Juve.”
On the pitch in Italy, the Dutch midfielder Tijjani Noslin scored late for a nine-man Lazio side to snatch a 1-0 win at Parma. The visitors had Mattia Zaccagni, their captain, sent off before the break for a two-footed lunge at the Parma midfielder Nahuel Estévez, and Toma Basic followed him off in the second half for an elbow to the same player’s midriff. But Noslin shook off a defender and rounded the goalkeeper to score the winner in the 82nd minute.
Nikola Vlasic’s first-half strike was enough to hand struggling Torino a 1-0 home victory over Cremonese, their first in seven attempts in the league, while Gianluca Scamacca’s double steered Atalanta to a 2-1 win against Cagliari.
