Barcelona.- With numerical superiority throughout the game, Barcelona did not stop wasting scoring chances at the Camp Nou.
The lack of success by Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembélé and Ansu Fati was exasperating against an Osasuna with their minds pending the Copa del Rey final that they will play against Real Madrid this weekend.
So veteran winger Jordi Alba appeared in the 85th minute to score the goal that sealed the 1-0 victory on Tuesday that brought the Catalan club closer to its first Spanish league title in four years.
Alba had barely been on the pitch for a few minutes when she found the ball on the left flank and took a shot that goalkeeper Aitor Fernández couldn’t clear. It was his second goal in the tournament.
“It was important to win. It was a difficult match against an opponent who is having a good season”, said Alba.
Barça reached 82 points and has a 14-point advantage from the top over Madrid, who lost hours later 2-0 on their visit to Real Sociedad.
The conquest of the first league title since 2019 is in the hands of the blaugranas, who will ensure it the next day if they beat Espanyol in the Catalan classic.
“It’s been a long time since we won the League and for someone from the house it tastes very good,” said Alba.
Osasuna could not withstand the pressure in the end with a squad in which they made several rotations with a view to Saturday’s duel against Madrid in Seville.
The Navarrese team played with 10 men from the age of 26 after Jorge Herrando, who was making his debut in the first division, received a direct red card for pushing Pedri to prevent a counterattack. Raphinha hit the crossbar with a free kick that was called for a foul.
Before Alba’s target, the Barca attack collided with goalkeeper Fernández, who slapped two balls with a couple of swipes towards the goal during the plug-in.
For the eleventh time in the championship, the blaugranas prevailed by the slightest difference. And it was the 25th time that they left their goal without conceding targets.
Lewandowski was unable to extend his lead in the fight for the Pichichi trophy as top scorer as he stagnated with 19 goals, two above those of Madrid’s Karim Benzema.
REAL MADRID SUCCUMBS TO REAL SOCIETY
Real Sociedad dealt a heavy setback to Real Madrid, who lost 2-0 just as they approached the most critical moment of their season.
Take Kubo opened the account when the teams had just returned from the break by taking advantage of a colossal mistake by Eder Militao in delivering the ball to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, only to push the ball into the net.
Ander Barrenetxea expanded for the txuri urdin in the 85th minute, with a low shot that hit the post after a great pass from veteran David Silva.
The merengue team suffered their seventh defeat of the course to be left with 68 points, 14 behind Barcelona with only five days left.
Now the whites are in the crosshairs of Atlético de Madrid (66), who aspire to surpass them on Wednesday if they beat Cádiz.
The victory leads Real Sociedad to finish in fourth position —the last one that gives a ticket to the next Champions League— with 61 units, eight above Villarreal.
The meringues faced this duel with several absences such as Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior and Eduardo Camavinga.
On the whites’ calendar is the Copa del Rey final against Osasuna on Saturday, to then host Manchester City on Tuesday, in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.
Even before finding himself at a disadvantage, Courtois had run with luck to keep the zero, after Martín Zubimendi crashed a shot off the crossbar. Shortly after, the Belgian goalkeeper deflected a shot from Silva’s goal with his leg.
Madrid played with 10 players from the 61st minute after Dani Carvajal received his second yellow card.
ELCHE CONSUMES ITS DESCENT
Leo Baptistão (22 minutes) and Adrián Embarba (52) scored the goals with which Almería beat Elche 2-1, which consummated their relegation.
Almería took distance from the lower zone by provisionally climbing to 14th position with 36 units.
Elche, who discounted in the discount through Ezequiel Ponce, officially lost his place in the top flight, after falling for the 23rd time in the tournament. He is at the bottom of the table with just 16 points. He had not played in the second division since 2019-20.
